On 13 August 2025, IEEP UK hosted an online launch event for a new report by the Aldersgate Group and IEEP UK exploring circular economy policy in the UK and EU and its implications for businesses.

Chaired by the Aldersgate Group’s Signe Norberg, the webinar began with a presentation by IEEP UK’s Head of Policy Michael Nicholson summarising the report’s findings on the legislative and policy developments on circular economy in the UK and EU since Brexit. Michael highlighted the divergence that has arisen between the two over the past five years, of which the majority is the UK ‘diverging by default’ as it fails to keep up with new EU policies in this area. He also underlined the importance of government recognising circular economy as a cross-cutting issue and gaining cross-governmental buy-in in order to successfully achieve circular economy policy objectives.

For the panel discussion section of the webinar, we were joined by Stuart Hayward-Higham, Chief Technical Development and Innovation Officer at Suez recycling and recovery UK, who spoke on the importance of gathering good data for designing circular economy policy, particularly with regard to packaging; and Anna Woodeson, Sustainability Director at Buro Happold, who highlighted the need for a holistic, systems perspective when supporting the development of a circular economy in the construction sector, including policies that help reduce the length and complexity of supply chains and, critically, to increase their transparency.

We were also joined by Andrew Weston, Head of Public Affairs (Food) at Co-op, who stressed the need for consistency across the four nations of the UK in ambition and in policy timelines for allowing the food industry to fully address circularity challenges, giving the upcoming Deposit Return Scheme as a clear example. Chiara Antonelli, Head of Programme (Climate and Circular Economy) at IEEP AISBL – IEEP UK’s sister organisation in Brussels – gave a European perspective, speaking on the need for circular economy policy harmonisation amongst member states, and the key role that an EU Circular Economy Act would play in this.

This was a popular session, reflecting the increasing interest in this area as the UK Government develops its Circular Economy Strategy for England. You can watch the full recording of the webinar below, or by following this link, and access the slides from the session in the downloads section below. The full IEEP UK and Aldersgate Group report is available here.