Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what new incentives she is offering to promote the circular economy and reduce waste.

It is essential that we make the best use of materials and resources, prevent and deal with waste and recycle properly. This makes both good business and environmental sense and there is a growing industry that can unlock that value of these resources for the UK economy. Keeping material resources in circulation is a key component to this and the Government supports moving towards a more circular economy.

The European Commission is currently working on a package of proposals to promote the Circular Economy and we have taken the opportunity to send ideas for measures that could be included in those proposals. Copies of the papers we submitted to the Commission Services will be placed in the House Library.

The Commission will publish its proposals before the end of 2015. These will include two elements: amendments to existing waste legislation, and a Communication with a plan of actions to promote the circular economy across the EU over the next 5 years.