Too much activity is focused on recycling and waste management rather than preventing waste, a new report commissioned by Defra finds.
The research, produced by the University of Portsmouth Global Plastics Policy Centre (GPPC), found that while the UK is making progress towards a circular economy, much of the current focus is on recycling, improving waste recovery, and encouraging changes in consumer behaviour.
However, the report highlighted that fewer initiatives address how products are designed, manufactured and used.
Commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the report, Progressing Beyond Recycling for a Circular Economy, reviews research and innovation activity across six sectors:
- Food and agriculture
- Chemicals and plastics
- Electrical and electronic equipment
- Transport
- Textiles
- Built environment
These are the same sectors focussed on in the government’s long-delayed Circular Economy Growth Plan.
Commenting on the research, Dr Antaya March, Director of the Global Plastics Policy Centre, at the Revolution Plastics Institute, said: “Recycling remains a part of a circular economy, but it cannot deliver the transition on its own.”
“Greater attention to product design, reuse, repair and resource efficiency could help retain more value within the economy while reducing demand for new materials.”
The researchers found that ‘relatively few initiatives’ are tackling the earlier stages of production and design, where the greatest potential exists to reduce resource use and environmental impacts.
The study also found that while many ideas are being tested, too few are progressing from pilots to reaching the market at scale.
As well as a gap between research and commercial deployment, the report said many projects measure activity rather than outcomes, making it difficult to assess their real impact on reducing waste, emissions or material use.
The report also identifies opportunities to strengthen the UK’s circular economy, including expanding reuse systems, supporting repair and refurbishment activities, improving product design, encouraging more efficient use of materials, and developing better ways to measure impact.
The research concludes that moving beyond recycling will require ‘coordinated action’ across government, industry and researchers. It continues that greater emphasis on product design, resource efficiency and reuse could help accelerate the UK’s transition to a more circular economy.