The circular economy approach can best be explained as 'make, use, remake' as opposed to 'make, use, dispose'. The ultimate goal of a circular economy is to design out waste.
The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 transpose the EU's 2020 Circular Economy Package, the '2020 CEP', in England and Wales and came into force on 1st October 2020. The European Commission launched a first Circular Economy Action Plan in 2015. All 54 actions under the plan have been delivered or are being implemented.
The objective for the CEP initiative is to make products more sustainable and keep resources in use for as long as possible, with the intention of minimising unnecessary waste and promoting resource efficiency.
The UK is committed to moving towards a more circular economy which will see keeping resources in use as long as possible and extracting the maximum value from them.
The bulk of changes to laws, regulations and administrative provisions made under the CEP affect three Directives:
