While it acknowledged that there are meaningful reasons for the delay – including changes in government and Covid-19 – it also said that the delays have gone on longer than is necessary.
26% of policies have not been implemented at all and 54% have been partially implemented.
The Review of the Resources and Waste Strategy was conceptualised at the start of 2024, prompted by slow progress on the strategy and the pending election.
Resource Resilience Strategy to replace Resources & Waste Strategy
The CIWM has suggested a new strategy – named the Resource Resilience Strategy (RRS) – as a replacement for the old Resources & Waste Strategy.
It also said it believes there should be a focus on “Circular Economy” or “Zero Waste” policies which work in conjunction with the 25 Year Environment Plan.
The CIWM aims to highlight three parts of the suggested RRS in particular:
- The creation of a cross-departmental taskforce to work on the implementation of the strategy;
- The prioritisation of packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR), Simpler Recycling, digital waste tracking and the emissions trading scheme (ETS);
- And further investment in green skills and encouraging young people to enter the industry.
Timeline for policy roll out
Lee Marshall, policy and external affairs director at CIWM, told Letsrecycle.com that he hopes Simpler Recycling (also known as consistency in collections) is on track to be implemented in 2026, with plastic films being included in 2027. He cautioned that the portion of the policy that refers to business collections may be slower to roll out.
He added that he does not believe the government will be able to roll out a deposit return scheme (DRS) ahead of the 2027 forecasted date as it promised at the start of the month.
The CIWM’s official position is that DRS should be paused in favour of Simpler Recycling and pEPR and allow time for the further development of a digital DRS (DDRS).
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