Beyond Recycling - A strategy to make the circular economy in Wales a reality.

The Beyond Recycling - A strategy to make the circular economy in Wales a reality (2021) lays out the steps towards a circular economy in the next ten years. Actions are also planned towards the 2050 targets. Some of these actions will be subject to further consultation, with some actions being jointly undertaken with other governments. The Strategy is structured around six core themes and eight headline actions. The Themes are: 1) Driving innovation in materials use; 2) Upscaling prevention and re-use; 3) Building on our recycling record; 4) Investing in infrastructure; 5) Enabling community and business action; 6) Aligning Government levers.
1) To ensure innovation in materials use the Strategy envisages actions that prioritise the use of sustainable and low carbon materials in construction; sustainable materials procurement hierarchy; support businesses to find high quality uses and markets for secondary materials including innovative uses for wastes from food manufacturing and the forestry industry; investigate how to decarbonise plastic, fibre and wood; restrict the sale of the most commonly littered single-use plastic items on our way to phasing out unnecessary items completely; encourage the use of more bioplastic from renewable sources; invest in green skills such as eco-design, re-use, repair, remanufacture and reprocessing to support the development of Wales’ workforce; among others. 2) to upscale prevention and re-use the Strategy list the following actions and initiatives: business in Wales can access advice on improving their resource efficiency; work with the other UK nations to improve the legislation for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE); provide access to advice to citizens on what they can do to reduce waste in their homes; promote sharing, waste prevention and re-use and support the re-use, repair and remanufacturing sectors ; pilot a re-use platform ; halve avoidable food waste; set up a working group with representatives of the food sector supply chain in Wales in order to share best practice and identify collaborative opportunities to meet the food waste reduction target. This will also look at ways to reduce unnecessary packaging and secure a more resilient food system; consult on the need for a requirement for businesses to report food waste quantities, and on introducing a requirement for major retailers to redistribute surplus edible food; give practical support to businesses on reducing food and packaging waste; increase the public sector’s donation of surplus equipment; etc.
3) Building on recycling records sections includes the following commitments: additional infrastructure to collect and recycle household materials; work with Local Authorities; radically improve the recycling of packaging, by introducing an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging; improve the re-use and recycling of drinks containers by introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS); etc. 4) Investments in infrastructure include: infrastructure to address priority materials; promote the development of community infrastructure which helps citizens to reduce waste (includes zero waste and zero plastic shops, surplus food redistribution, community fridges, refill points, community hire shops, material lending libraries and related initiatives); support regional economic development through the transition to a circular economy which encourages shorter supply chains and a more local and regional focus on sourcing materials; etc. 5) Enabling community and business action will be achieved through support to town centres to become more ‘circular’ as part of the cross-government action; improve the information available to consumers; children and young people to play a prominent role in driving circular economy forward; support manufacturers, particularly in the food and drink sector, support businesses to be ready for the introduction of the Plastic Packaging Tax; support the development of green skills; use our Circular Economy Fund to invest in and support community initiatives; etc. 6) Aligning Government levers section lists the following actions: place a moratorium on any future large scale energy from waste developments; legislate to ensure separated key recyclables are banned from energy recovery or landfill; support the public sector and encourage business to prioritise sustainable trade and the traceability of products, such as a mandatory electronic waste tracking system; ensure the reduction and safe management of hazardous waste; tackle litter and fly-tipping; introduce bans and restrict the sale of commonly littered single-use plastic items such as cutlery, straws, cotton buds and balloon sticks, among others.