Circular economy and the policy landscape in the UK

Abstract

This chapter sets out the European policy origins of ‘circular economy’ thinking in the UK and discusses the extent to which the waste prevention plans written by the four countries of the UK (to fulfill the EU requirement) start to move the UK in the direction of more circular approaches. This is important for an understanding of what has driven UK action on this agenda. I argue that the ‘circular economy’ has become an increasingly vigorous topic of debate in the UK. This has been manifested mainly through interest and use of the language by leading companies, but more recently also through political interest in Scotland and Wales, resulting in diverging policies in the countries of the UK. Heightened political interest in some parts of the UK has coincided with uncertainty about activity in the European Commission. The chapter discusses some of the difficulties in turning the concept into policy prescriptions.