The Government’s Circular Economy Strategy for England will not be published for consultation until early 2026, Defra Secretary of State Emma Reynolds has confirmed, marking a departure from the original autumn 2025 timeline.
Reynolds made the announcement during an appearance before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee yesterday (11 November), informing the committee: “[Defra is] looking at the new year for a circular economy growth plan.”
In her opening statement to the committee, Reynolds emphasised that “we are very committed to delivering a circular economy, and there’s great opportunities there,” later pointing to the “growth opportunities there that I think we should all welcome.”
When asked about the consultation timing, Reynolds told the committee that “the recycling businesses have said that they welcome the regulatory certainty that we have driven since we’ve been in power, and that they think over the next decade, this will underpin 10 billion pounds of investment in new UK recycling capacity and create 25,000 jobs.”
Taskforce work continues
The strategy, now referred to as the Circular Economy Growth Plan, will be informed by the work of the Circular Economy Taskforce established in December 2024.
Since its inception the taskforce has spent the past year developing sector-specific roadmaps for five priority sectors: chemicals and plastics, construction, textiles, transport, and agri-food.
The agri-food sector roadmap is already informing policy development, with the taskforce’s work cited as supporting the Government’s £13.6 million farm surplus redistribution scheme announced earlier this year (https://resource.co/article/government-announces-136m-surplus-farm-food-…).
Reynolds praised Parliamentary Under-Secretary Mary Creagh’s work during the committee hearing, saying: “I just wanted to compliment my minister, Mary Creagh, for grasping this so energetically and within six months [of] being in government, we passed legislation to introduce packaging, extended producer responsibility, deposit return scheme and Simpler Recycling.”
Reynolds told MPs that Defra “issued invoices under PPR, the packaging extended producer responsibility legislation” in recent weeks and “we’re already getting money coming in on that.” She emphasised that the circular economy “has a real potential of driving more growth in the economy” and that “if we can increase our recycling rates, then that will lead to an increase in the industry that supports that too.”
The delay means the consultation will now be overseen by Reynolds, who was appointed Environment Secretary in September after serving as Economic Secretary to the Treasury
