In this briefing for CIWM members, the expert policy, innovation & technical team break down the recent changes to the Environmental Improvement Plan and how they impact the resources & waste sector.
The EIP 2025 was published on 1 December. It sets out a five-year roadmap to tackle the nature and climate crisis, improve public health, and support sustainable growth. It is one of four pillars of the post-Brexit environmental governance system, alongside embedding environmental principles in policymaking, setting legal restoration targets and oversight from the Office for Environmental Protection. The Plan, and all its associated supporting documents, can be found here.
This CIWM member briefing predominantly focusses on Goal 5: Waste (and its associated Commitments and Indicators), which sits in Chapter 3: Circular Economy of the EIP 2025. This Goal is the one with the most relevance to the resources and waste sector.
The associated ‘Residual waste reduction Environment Act target delivery plan – policy paper’ can be found here.
1. What is an Environmental Improvement Plan?
A long-term plan to improve the natural environment in England was first put in place in 2018 with the 25 Year Environment Plan. Under the Environment Act 2021, this was adopted as the official legally binding Environmental Improvement Plan, and was revised in January 2023 as the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 (EIP 2023).
Environmental Improvement Plans are critical documents. They set out the steps needed to meet the statutory targets set in the Environment Act 2021, and sit alongside other provisions in this act to ensure there are steps to protect and enhance the environment throughout all of government policy.
Regular reviews of EIPs are a mandatory requirement of the Environment Act 2021. In their annual reviews, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) provide an assessment of progress towards legally-binding environment targets, commitments and goals, including those in the statutory EIPs.
In their 2025 report (reviewing progress from 2023 to 2024) the OEP reported that government was still largely off track in achieving its legal environmental commitments. In their response to this report, the government stated they were undertaking a statutory review and revision of EIP2023 and would publish a revision in due course. The EIP 2025 (hereafter referred to as the ‘Plan’) is the revised version.
2. Overview of the EIP 2025 – the Plan
The Plan relates to England only, but the Government acknowledges that nature does not follow borders. They are working closely with the devolved governments, who are largely responsible for their own environmental policy, where nature matters overlap such as the Northern Ireland EIP, the Scotland Environment Strategy, and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. The Plan contains five chapters:
- Chapter 1: Restored nature
- Chapter 2: Environmental quality
- Chapter 3: Circular economy
- Chapter 4: Environmental security
- Chapter 5: Access to nature
Within these chapters are 10 goals, containing 91 individual supporting commitments:
- Goal 1: Restored nature (Chapter 1)
- Goal 2: Air (Chapter 2)
- Goal 3: Water (Chapter 2)
- Goal 4: Chemicals and pesticides (Chapter 2)
- Goal 5: Waste (Chapter 3)
- Goal 6: Resources (Chapter 3)
- Goal 7: Climate change (Chapter 4)
- Goal 8: Reducing environmental hazards (Chapter 4)
- Goal 9: Biosecurity (Chapter 4)
- Goal 10: Access to nature (Chapter 5)
3. Details of Goal 5: Waste
The section opens with the statement, ‘We will minimise waste by designing it out of the system, reusing and recycling materials wherever possible. We are determined to improve economic growth and resilience by transitioning to a circular economy and turning waste into economic potential.’
Goal 5 is intended to support the legally binding Environment Act 2021 target of:
‘By 31 December 2042, the total mass of residual waste excluding major mineral waste for the calendar year 2042 does not exceed 287kg per capita. This is roughly the same as a 50% reduction from 2019 levels.’
Goal 5 has three parts; ‘Minimising waste’, ‘Removing criminal threats to a circular economy’, and ‘Transitioning to a circular economy’. There is also information on ‘Monitoring and reporting approach.’
Minimising waste
Within this part of the Plan are 8 interim targets to help meet the Environment Act waste target. These 8 interim targets are described in ‘Commitments 48 and 48d’ of the Plan, which ensures that by December 2030 the total mass of:
- residual waste excluding major mineral waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 437kg per capita
- residual waste excluding major mineral waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 25.5 million tonnes
- residual municipal waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 333kg per capita
- residual municipal food waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 64kg per capita
- residual municipal plastic waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 42kg per capita
- residual municipal paper and card waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 74kg per capita
- residual municipal metal waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 10kg per capita
- residual municipal glass waste in the most recent full calendar year does not exceed 7kg per capita
Note. Targets ‘a-c’ and ‘e-h’ come under Commitment 48. Target ‘d’ comes under Commitment 48d.
It should be noted that these interim targets are the same as in the EIP2023 but the implementation dates have been pushed back to December 2030. In the EIP2023 the implementation dates were all ‘by 31/01/28’.
The Plan identifies numerous actions to deliver Commitment 48:
- Implement Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) to move the cost of dealing with household packaging waste to packaging producers. Responsible: PackUK (Defra), Environment Agency (EA)
- Instruct PackUK, the pEPR scheme administrator, to recover pEPR money paid to local authorities that are not spent on waste management services. This will ensure sufficient investment for improving recycling performance. Responsible: Defra
- Introduce the Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers from October 2027. This will include single-use drinks containers from 150ml to 3 litres made of polyethylene terephthalate plastic, steel, and aluminium. Responsible: Defra, Deposit Management Organisation, EA
- Introduce Simpler Recycling in England from 2025, ensuring the same recyclable waste streams are collected for recycling from all households and workplaces. Responsible: Defra, local authorities, businesses
- Implement the Design for Life roadmap to transition the UK away from all avoidable single-use medtech products by 2045. Responsible: DHSC
- Introduce measures to drive the reduction and near-elimination of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill from 2028. We will support this through the collection and packaging reforms. Potential options beyond this include expanding the list of separately collected materials that are banned from landfill without some form of treatment process to include paper and card, food, garden waste, wood, and textiles. Responsible: Defra, EA
- Pursue the near elimination of biodegradable non-municipal waste to landfill from 2028, identifying during 2026 which further wastes could be restricted from entering landfill. The circular economy growth plan will set out options to promote greater circularity in sectors which will be key to reducing residual waste, including that entering landfill. Responsible: Defra
The Plan identifies a single action to deliver Commitment 48d:
- Introduce separate food waste collections for all households from 2026. Responsible: Defra, local authorities
Removing criminal threats to a circular economy
Within this part of the Plan are two commitments:
- Commitment 49: Reduce illegal waste sites from 2023 to 2024 levels by 2029 to 2030.
- Commitment 50: Reduce fly-tipping incidents from local authority reported 2023 to 2024 levels by 2029 to 2030.
It should be noted that these Commitments are not as ambitious, but are arguably more realistic, than their equivalents in the EIP2023 – ‘Seek to eliminate waste crime and illegal waste sites by 2042 prioritising those of higher risk’ and ‘Deliver a substantial reduction in littering and littering behaviour’.
Actions to deliver Commitment 49 are:
- Stop criminals using permit exemptions to hide illegal waste activity by removing 3 permit exemptions and tightening 7 more, stop allowing multiple exemptions on a single site or on sites with a permit, and introduce record-keeping requirements. Responsible: Defra, EA
- Reform carriers, brokers, and dealers regulation by moving into the tougher environmental permitting system with stronger penalties to ensure that only the right people can transport and manage waste, making it easier for regulators to act against non-compliant operators. Responsible: Defra, EA
- Introduce a digital waste tracking service to modernise existing waste record keeping from 2026 to enable regulators to better detect illegal activity and tackle waste crime. Responsible: Defra, EA
The action to deliver Commitment 50 is:
- Publish guidance in early 2026 to support local councils to seize and crush more vehicles used for fly-tipping, including using new technologies. Responsible: Defra, local authorities
Transitioning to a circular economy
This part of the Plan has one commitment:
- Commitment 51: Publish the circular economy growth plan in early 2026, followed by its implementation.
The action to deliver Commitment 51 is:
- Monitor and evaluate progress towards circularity through the circular economy growth plan, showing how we expect government initiatives to effect change and achieve our wider goals and targets. Responsible: Defra, DESNZ
Monitoring and reporting approach’
Progress indicators are being developed as part of the circular economy growth plan for England but in the interim, a suite of existing indicators relevant to Goal 5 are available as official statistics under the Environmental Indicator Framework (EIF):
- C1: Clean seas: marine litter
- J1: Carbon footprint and consumer buying choices
- J3: Municipal waste recycling rates
- J4: Residual waste arising by type and sector
- J6: Waste crime
4. Other chapters relevant to the resource and waste sector
Goal 4 (Chemicals and pesticides) within Chapter 2 (Environmental quality) of the plan seeks to minimise the environmental risks from chemicals and pesticides. Commitment 41 is a strategy for managing Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as ‘forever chemicals’.
Commitment 43 is directly relevant to the resources and waste sector – ‘Substantially increase the destruction of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) found in waste by 2030’. The actions to achieve Commitment 43 are:
- Deliver a series of compliance campaigns related to the sampling and testing of waste for POPs to identify which waste streams are affected on an ongoing basis. This includes providing industry with practical guidance as necessary relating to the identification, classification, and disposal of waste containing POPs. Responsible: EA, industry
- Deliver audits, sampling and testing at waste treatment sites on an ongoing basis to support the effective regulation of waste management facilities treating waste streams which have been identified as including POPs. This should ensure that POPs are destroyed and that appropriate monitoring and control of releases are in place. Responsible: EA
5. CIWM Position
CIWM welcomes the UK Government’s ongoing commitment to a greener future as set out in the 2025 Environmental Improvement Plan. The statutory target under the Environment Act to cut residual waste to no more than 287kg per capita by 2042 is a challenge the resources and waste sector can deliver on, given properly implemented and targeted policy together with regulatory support.
This 50% reduction of residual waste from 2019 levels target, coupled with the supporting interim goals, sends a clear signal to the sector. The collection and packaging reforms from the Resources and Waste Strategy, including simpler recycling, pEPR, and a DRS, are rightly identified as critical mechanisms for achieving these necessary reductions.
The 2025 EIP rightly acknowledges that criminal activity and waste crime are threats to a circular economy. The commitments to carrier, brokers, dealers reform, the introduction of a digital waste tracking service, and permitting and exemptions reforms are welcome but CIWM urges Government to be more ambitious in its targets to reduce illegal waste sites and fly-tipping incidents, and to work with CIWM, regulators, and others on a defined plan to achieve this.
These are ambitious targets. A fundamental shift in how resources are valued and managed is required. The entire value chain, including manufacturers, local authorities, our sector, and households, must be empowered and incentivised to prioritise waste prevention and maximise circularity. CIWM will work with the Government, our members, and the wider sector to support the delivery of this plan, accelerating the transition towards a circular economy and safeguarding quality environments for the future.
For any enquiries on the contents of this briefing note please contact technical@ciwm.co.uk.
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