Environment Secretary Steve Reed’s Circular Economy Speech – 27 March 2025

On 27 March 2025, Environment Secretary Steve Reed gave a speech on the Circular Economy strategy, highlighting the urgent need to drastically reduce waste across the industry.

He emphasised innovation as essential in transitioning to a circular economy, which he stated is critical for driving real change in communities nationwide, with recycling rates stagnating and excessive waste still ending up in landfills or incinerators.

To lead this transformation, the Government has established an independent Circular Economy Taskforce. Chaired by Andrew Morlet, former CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the taskforce will bring together leading experts from industry, academia, and civil society to tackle this challenge head-on.

The Government has also identified five priority sectors where circular economy principles can have the greatest impact:

• Chemicals and plastics.
• Textiles.
• Transport.
• Construction.
• Agri-food.

This is part of the Circular Economy Strategy due to be launched in Autumn 2025.

For the government pre-event press release, please click here. For live industry reactions courtesy of LetsRecycle, it’s here.