Alignment of Uk Waste Strategy and the Eu Circular Economy Package

IN THE SEARCH FOR EFFECTIVE WASTE POLICY: ALIGNMENT OF UK WASTE STRATEGY AND THE EU CIRCULAR ECONOMY PACKAGE C. A. FLETCHER* and R. M. DUNK** * Waste to Resource Innovation Network, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK ** School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK SUMMARY: Over-consumption within a linear economy has been recognised internationally as a barrier to sustainability and a major cause of environmental degradation and economic disparity. To address these issues, the transition towards a circular economy has been advocated. A circular economy recycles and reprocesses materials and energy through successive generations and promotes resource efficiency at all stages of a product’s lifecycle. Within the European Union, the Circular Economy Package has been developed to stimulate Europe’s transition toward a circular economy. The Circular Economy Package aims to close the loop of product lifecycles, while bringing economic and environmental benefits. However, it has been criticised for its continued focus on waste management, and particularly the continued use of low priority waste hierarchy strategies such as recovery and disposal. It is an obligation of member states to transpose EU strategy and associated legislation into national policy. This study presents a content analysis of the national waste strategies of the four devolved nations of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – to assess alignment with the ideal circular economy model and its interpretation within the Circular Economy Package. Key differences and similarities in the strategies of the four devolved nations are identified and discussed. The document published by Wales was found to align more to the ideal circular economy model when compared with the remaining three. However, continued utilisation of the waste hierarchy, particularly low priority categories was identified for all four documents, which would indicate greater alignment to the Circular Economy Package. The potential impact of Brexit is then considered, with consideration of how leaving the EU may hamper or enhance opportunities to move towards a circular economy model. In light of this, we conclude that the successful transition of the UK to a circular economy will require improvements from all four devolved nations and an overarching UK wide strategy that provides consistent and collaborative long-term objectives, particularly after Brexit. Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017 S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017 1. INTRODUCTION Increases in global population and a growing trend towards higher living standards have led to increased depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation due to the linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model on which economic growth has been built (Moreno et al., 2016; Wysokinska, 2016). Overcoming this unsustainable consumption pattern has been acknowledged internationally, most notably by the United Nations who prioritise Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) within their 10-year Framework of Programmes (United Nations Environmental Programme, 2015). A key component of SCP is the transition and implementation of the Circular Economy. This study will present a critical review of the ideal circular economy and its interpretation within the EU Circular Economy Package. From this, a framework will be developed against which national waste strategy (using UK devolved nations as an example) will be compared. 1.1 Ideal Circular Economy A summary of an ideal circular economy is presented in Figure 1, where the circular economy model can be described as a broad resource efficiency concept (Su et al., 2013) that mimics a natural biological system by recirculating and reprocessing materials and energy through multiple phases (Lieder and Rashid, 2016). It is based on three principles (Ellen Macarthur Foundation [EMF], 2015); (1) Preservation and enhancement of natural capital through the control of finite stocks and the balance of renewable energy flows, (2) Optimisation of resource yields through circulating products, components, and materials, whilst maintaining utility at the highest levels in both technical and biological cycles, and, (3) Enhancing system effectiveness by revealing and designing out negative externalities. The circular economy model is intended to function as a fully regenerative closed ecological- economic system (Lieder and Rashid, 2016) that reduces the consumption of resources at all stages of design, production, distribution and consumption (Su et al., 2016; Wysokinska, 2016). To maintain the flow of materials and energy, the 3R’s (Reduction, Reuse and Recycle) are embedded into production and consumption models (Su et al., 2013). The 3R’s aim to reduce the consumption of resources to the absolute minimum either through design or behaviour, reuse products and services by extending lifespans, increasing durability and improving repairability and recycle both materials and energy through subsequent lifecycles (Su et al., 2016; Wysokinska, 2016). Product design has been highlighted as crucial in the transition and implementation of the ideal circular economy (Leider and Rashid, 2016). This is achieved by reducing overall resource use as much as possible through application of eco-design principles, whereby resources are designed-out through dematerialisation and virtualisation of goods and services, and regenerative design approaches that ensure resources can be regenerated (Wysokinska, 2016). Other methods of circular product design include standardisation of components, design for easy end-of-life sorting, separation and recycling, and designed-to-last products with the application of potential by-products and wastes considered (EMF, 2015). The production and distribution of products and services should also follow clean- production principles, use renewable resources in a way that ensures regeneration, and increase producer responsibility through implementing reverse cycles within the supply chain Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017 (Wysokinska, 2016; EMF, 2015). Clean production principles develop and incorporate low emission and low effluent technologies in existing processes to achieve continued economic growth, develop self-sufficient regional systems and develop virtual sharing markets among regional and international partners (Nemet et al., 2016). Responsible use of renewable resources ensures regeneration for use in subsequent lifecycles without loss of value or negative external effects (Wysokinska, 2016). Implementation of reverse cycles, or reverse supply chain logistics, is the process whereby products and materials are returned to the supplier or producer to be reused or reprocessed. By reclaiming products at end of life, producers can recirculate materials and improve resource efficiency, thereby using fewer materials in the forward system (Sarkis et al., 2010). The way in which products, services and resources are consumed should also be considered either through individual responsibility of consumption level or by utilising performance models (Stahel, 2016). Performance models, or product-service systems, remove ownership of products from the consumer by selling goods and services through rental, share and lease agreements. In doing so, ownership is retained by the producer/manufacturer and so they retain responsibility for the embodied resources (Stahel, 2016). This removes the incentive of business to maximise the number of products sold, and instead by providing a service, businesses are incentivised to maximise resource efficiency and product/service utility (Tukker, 2015). Policy and legislation have a key part to play in motivating different stakeholders to implement the circular economy model. Su et al (2013) identifies three levels of stakeholders, micro-level (individual producers and designers), meso-level (sectors and industrial parks), and macro-level (city/region, co-operative networks of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors), which should be acknowledged in successful circular economy policy. In general, policy and legislation is challenged to enable and develop new markets, and to promote innovation and resource efficiency (Lieder and Rashid, 2016). Nevertheless, the most important role of policies, legislation and overarching strategies are to engage and inspire individuals to consume less, reuse goods, and present high quality recyclate when waste is unavoidable (Price, 2001; EMF, 2015). Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017 OVERARCHING VISION The circular economy aims to preserve and enhance natural capital by decoupling economic growth and resource use through resource efficiency and maintenance of resource value, both in individual product lifecycles and across product supply chains. It requires deep systemic change whereby prevailing economic structures are changed, misconceptions of waste being unavoidable are challenged and economic growth along with social and technical progress are not restricted. To do this a transition away from the linear economic model is advocated along with the move towards closed loop material flows or cradle-to-cradle models that mimic a natural

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