Our Waste, Our Resources: A Strategy for England

This strategy sets out how DEFRA & EA plan to double resource productivity and eliminate avoidable waste of all kinds (including plastic waste) by 2050.

Our strategy sets out how they will:

• preserve our stock of material resources by minimising waste, promoting resource efficiency and moving towards a circular economy
• minimise the damage caused to our natural environment by reducing and managing waste safely and carefully
• deal with waste crime

It combines actions DEFRA & EA will take now with firm commitments for the coming years and gives a clear longer-term policy direction in line with our 25 Year Environment Plan.

DEFRA & EA want to prolong the lives of the materials and goods that we use. Their plan is to move society away from the inefficient ‘linear’ economic model of ‘take, make, use, throw’.

A more circular economy (re-use, remanufacture, repair, recycle) will see us keeping resources in use for as long as possible. It will allow us to extract maximum value from them, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of their lifespan.

August 2020: DEFRA & EA published their approach to monitoring and evaluating the progress of the resources and waste strategy for England.