Recommendations
9. The
Government should introduce differential VAT rates based on life-cycle
analysis of the environmental impact or recycled content of products,
and tax allowances for businesses that repair goods or promote
re-use. It should set up a cross-Government working group, led
by the Cabinet Office to decide how best to implement such reforms.
(Paragraph 27)
10. The Government
should reform the PRN scheme to include an 'offset' or lower charge
for products that have higher recycled content and ensure that
funds generated from the operation of the scheme are distributed
to bodies working to enhance materials recovery and product circularity.
It should also introduce individual producer responsibility schemes
in new sectors to make more producers design products with their
end-of-life in mind. The Government should review how processes
for environmental protections against illegal disposal of waste
might be simplified to encourage businesses to re-use materials.
More generally, it should explore the scope for regulating the
minimum recycled content of particular products in order to stimulate
sustainable markets in recovered and recycled material. (Paragraph
33)
11. Local authorities need to tailor their
[household recycling services] to local needs, but the Government
should give clear guidance that directs local authorities in England
towards a more standard approach. This should include separation
systems that enable reliable delivery of compatible sorted waste
products to all recyclers, separate food waste collections, and
a ban on food waste to landfill. (Paragraph 39)
12. The Government should set out plans to
ensure eDoc's long term future so that it can fulfil its role
in improving data quality on waste materials. It should set a
deadline by which time reporting in this way will be mandatory.
(Paragraph 42)
13. The Green Investment Bank should finance
innovative technologies to support a circular economy. The Bank
could for example showcase the potential of anaerobic digestion
plants which are able to process a range of waste feedstock sources
by investing in such projects. The Government needs to ensure
that its policies for recovering resources and generating energy
are aligned and are consistent with the waste hierarchy. (Paragraph
45)
14. The Government, working closely with the
EU, should establish eco-design standards across a range of products.
It should set out the steps towards a ban on products that are
made from materials that cannot be recycled, or reduce taxes on
those that can be. Such standards would phase out inefficient
products or hard to recycle materials by ensuring that companies
design products that are consistent with the circular economy,
have a clear end-of-life recovery route and are fabricated using
easily separable and recyclable components. The Government should
underpin voluntary agreements by setting timescales by which regulation
would establish the recyclability of all products coming on the
market. The Government should also work with industry sectors
to set longer minimum warranty periods for consumer products to
encourage businesses to adopt more resource-efficient business
models. (Paragraph 51)
15. [The Government] should take steps to
remove trade barriers for remanufactured goods through trade negotiations,
including pushing for them to be treated in the same way as new
products. (Paragraph 55)
16. The Government should extend buying standards
to include a greater emphasis on the recyclability of materials
and recycled or re-used content. (Paragraph 58)
17. The Government
should learn from the strategic vision and ambitious targets that
other countries have adopted. It should embrace the EU's ambitious
targets for improving resource productivity, and support business
in achieving the economic and environmental benefits. It should
also support the European's Commission's proposals for recycling
and the accompanying proposed targets, and use these to drive
change. (Paragraph 70)
18. The Government
needs to ensure that there is sufficient funding available for
agencies such as WRAP and the Technology Strategy Board to support
this transition. Some of the revenues from the Landfill Tax and
taxes on non-circular products should be used to directly support
the circular economy and reverse the cuts in WRAP's funding. (Paragraph
71)
19. The circular economy
must be embedded into industrial strategy, based on resource risks
and covering key sectors. Local Enterprise Plans should take identify
steps to mitigate these risks and opportunities to innovate. It
should also be mainstreamed into departmental business plans,
with clear responsibilities for driving this forward in both BIS
and Defra and across Government. (Paragraph 72)
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