Resource efficiency crucial for meeting net zero, driving resilience and creating jobs

Reacting to the publication today of the government’s Consultation on the Waste Prevention Programme for England, Kate Young, Senior Public Affairs Officer at the Aldersgate Group said: “The resource efficiency proposals announced today put significant weight behind the Government’s intention to move towards a circular economy. There is a much-needed focus on transforming production and consumption through re-use, repair and re-manufacture, and it will be pivotal to integrate these ambitions across the economy.

Kate Young added: The development of sector-specific measures also represents substantial progress, and will be vital to providing a clear framework for meeting our net zero emissions target, supporting business resilience, and creating jobs. Proposals to set product requirements for durability, repairability and recyclability, introduce extended producer responsibility for new sectors to stimulate reuse and prevention, use public procurement for remanufactured ICT devices, and introduce eco-design principles for the automotive sector are all highly encouraging and could have a sizeable impact on reducing the consumption of raw materials.”

Kate Young concluded: “Given the breadth of measures announced today are subject to consultation, the government must now ensure rapid progress over the next year to embed these ambitious proposals across the economy, particularly given the lack of policy progress in the area over the previous three years. In implementing these commitments, Government should aim high – voluntary reporting and schemes should be scaled up and translated into mandatory actions where possible to provide certainty to businesses and achieve truly transformative change. This will be essential to improve economic resilience during recovery from COVID-19, strengthen global competitiveness and meet our net zero and Environment Bill targets. [1]”