Waste management and planning

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Waste management planning, policy and regulation has changed significantly over the last few decades. In particular, less waste is disposed of at landfill and more waste is reused and recycled.

Key drivers of this transition include landfill tax, which continues to provide a financial incentive to divert commercial and industrial waste from landfill; increased public and private investment in recycling and resource recovery infrastructure; and the development of circular economy policies, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, Simpler Recycling requirements, and other producer responsibility obligations.

For more information, see Practice Notes: Landfill tax—England and Northern Ireland and Waste projects—overview.

EU legislation was a significant driving force shaping the waste management framework in England and Wales pre-Brexit. For more information, see: Waste and circular economy (EU Law)—overview.

Waste management principles and concepts

Key principles and concepts underlying the development of waste management and policy include:

  1. •

    waste prevention and minimisation, and the implementation of the waste hierarchy

  2. •

    resource efficiency

  3. •

    lifecycle approaches

  4. •

    the polluter-pays principle, and

  5. •

    producer responsibility

Waste hierarchy

The waste management hierarchy indicates an order of preference for action

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