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 for this change include the landfill tax escalator, which provides a financial incentive for business to divert commercial and industrial waste from landfill, increased public and private investment in waste management facilities, and new approaches to waste management, including 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 to reduce and manage waste.

The principle of the waste hierarchy was

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