The EU Circular Economy Act — and is there a UK one?

The EU Circular Economy Act

The EU Circular Economy Act is a forthcoming European Commission legislative proposal, expected in Q3 2026, and a pillar of the Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal^[1].

Its headline goal is to double the EU’s circular material use rate to 24% by 2030 (from around 12% today) and to build a single market for secondary raw materials^[1].

It works through three pillars: amending the Waste Framework and Landfill Directives, amending the WEEE Directive, and additional flanking measures still being scoped^[2].

A call for evidence ran from August 2025, and phased sector implementation has been signalled from 2028^[2].

The Act’s UK relevance is about market access, not UK law: it applies to products placed on the EU market regardless of where they are manufactured, so a UK business exporting into the EU will need to meet its requirements even though the UK is not bound by EU legislation^[1].

Is there a UK Circular Economy Act?

No.

There is no single UK statute called the “Circular Economy Act” — and, unlike the EU proposal above, each UK nation legislates on this separately^[3].

For the full story on England’s overdue plan — the taskforce behind it, the delay, and what businesses should prepare now — see our Circular Economy Growth Plan explainer.

Scotland’s 2024 Act and Wales’s Beyond Recycling strategy are each their own devolved instrument^[4][5] — never blur them into a single “UK act”.

The Environment Act 2021 and what it enables

The Environment Act 2021 is the closest thing the UK has to a circular-economy framework law, and it applies UK-wide rather than to one nation.

Rather than setting detailed rules itself, it grants powers that ministers then use through regulations^[3].

Two of those powers matter most.

The Act allows the government to make producers responsible for the costs of managing the packaging they place on the market — the legal basis for extended producer responsibility — and to establish a deposit return scheme for drinks containers^[3].

It also underpins resource-efficiency and eco-design requirements, and consistent recycling collections in England.

The practical effect is that the detail arrives through statutory instruments, not through a single headline Act.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) shifts the cost of managing packaging waste from local authorities to the businesses that place packaging on the market.

The UK packaging EPR scheme — pEPR — is the single most significant live circular-economy obligation for most companies.

The scheme administrator, PackUK, published the confirmed 2025 base fees on 27 June 2025, and the first invoices to producers were issued from October 2025^[6].

Fees are charged per tonne of household packaging placed on the market, and vary by material — from glass at the lower end to fibre-based composites at the higher end^[6].

From the 2026–27 assessment year, fees will be modulated by recyclability, so packaging that is harder to recycle will cost more.

The Plastic Packaging Tax

The Plastic Packaging Tax is a separate instrument, run by HMRC rather than DEFRA.

It targets plastic packaging that contains less than 30% recycled content, creating a financial incentive to design in recycled material.

The rate is £223.69 per tonne from 1 April 2025, having risen each year from £200 per tonne when the tax began in 2022^[7].

From 1 April 2026 the rate rises again to £228.82 per tonne, uprated in line with CPI inflation^[9].

Registration is triggered by volume, not by liability: a business must register if it manufactures or imports 10 tonnes or more of finished plastic packaging in a 12-month rolling period, even where all of it meets the 30% recycled threshold and no tax is due^[7].

The Deposit Return Scheme

The deposit return scheme (DRS) adds a refundable deposit to in-scope drinks containers, reclaimed when the empty is returned.

All four UK nations plan to start their schemes on 1 October 2027^[8].

In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland the scheme will cover single-use containers between 150ml and 3 litres made from PET plastic, steel and aluminium — but not glass^[8].

Wales plans to include glass on a different basis.

A flat 20p deposit has been confirmed for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The legal powers come from the Environment Act 2021, with Scotland relying on the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009^[8].

England’s Circular Economy Growth Plan

England has not consolidated its circular-economy measures into one Act, but it is building a plan.

An independent Circular Economy Taskforce, chaired by Andrew Morlet, was established in late 2024 to co-design what is now called the Circular Economy Growth Plan — formerly the “circular economy strategy”^[10].

The taskforce has focused on priority sectors including agri-food, construction, chemicals, electronics, textiles and transport^[10].

The Growth Plan remains unpublished as of July 2026 — a GOV.UK milestone once said “early 2026”, over 50 businesses wrote to DEFRA urging publication in May 2026, and DEFRA says only “soon”. For the delay history, what the plan is expected to cover, and the policy context businesses can act on now, see our dedicated Circular Economy Growth Plan page.

It is policy, not statute: when published it will shape future regulations rather than itself create a single Circular Economy Act — that distinction is exactly why the EU’s proposal, above, and England’s plan should not be conflated.

The link to sustainability reporting

For a sustainability-reporting audience, the circular economy is not a side issue.

Packaging fees, recycled-content data and waste flows are exactly the kind of resource-use information that increasingly appears in corporate disclosure.

As the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards take effect, resource use and circularity move from voluntary narrative into structured reporting for in-scope companies.

The data a business already gathers for EPR and the Plastic Packaging Tax becomes reusable evidence.

For the theory behind these measures, see our circular economy explainer; for how the broader disclosure regime fits together, see the ESG reporting requirements map.

Businesses turning these obligations into a wider circularity strategy — rather than treating EPR fees and the Plastic Packaging Tax as pure compliance costs — often bring in circular economy consultancy support to convert packaging and waste data into a broader resource-efficiency plan.

Circular economy law: frequently asked questions