Natural Resources Wales / Area Statements and the waste industry

We want to hear from you

These pages are being continuously updated, enabling stakeholders to get a better understanding of how Area Statements applies to their particular areas of work.

We are keen to hear your thoughts and ideas about how the waste industry can contribute to the Area Statements process. Please contact us if you are interested in sharing your views, which (a) will be read by the Natural Resources Wales’s waste policy team and reviewed in tandem with other Natural Resources Wales teams, and (b) could be used to create opportunities by shaping and developing future Area Statements.

You can reach the waste policy team through the Natural Resources Wales’s customer contact centre at enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Please make sure that you mark your email for the attention of the waste policy team.

a bale of cans ready for the blast furnace

Waste and Area Statements

Wales is aiming to become a zero-waste nation by 2050 by moving to what is known as a circular economy. A circular economy involves keeping materials and products in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value from them before recycling. The Welsh Government’s ‘Beyond Recycling’ strategy outlines various actions that will enable Wales to achieve this.

Preventing waste from being generated and using waste as a resource are important steps on the journey to creating a circular economy. Both have the potential to considerably reduce the effects of our economic activity on the environment, both inside and outside Wales, as well as bringing benefits to the economy.

To work towards this, Wales needs to:

Move up the waste hierarchy by putting waste prevention and reuse at the forefront of waste management, product design, manufacture and use
Build on current recycling successes by improving the quality of material available to be recycled, and expanding recycling requirements to industry and business across Wales
Encourage behavioural change by way of education and communication
Reduce the global impact of waste by cutting down on waste exports and improving our recycling infrastructure, increasing the ability to process waste closer to home
Reduce the consumption of single use items
Improve manufacturing and design in order to take a product’s full life cycle into account
Improve waste tracking by introducing a mandatory electronic system ensuring complete, accurate and accessible waste data for Welsh waste movements
Implement what is known as ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) requiring producers to pay the full net cost of managing their products at end-of-life, encouraging the more sustainable use of resources

Collaborative work

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) are engaging with a broad range of stakeholders across Wales, starting conversations about how we can all tackle the climate emergency in ways that benefit our society, our economy and our environment. That’s where the Area Statements process comes in. These conversations are designed to bring networks of people together from across different sectors and disciplines, as the challenges we now face cannot possibly be managed by one sector alone.

Discovering Area Statement themes

A full description of the different themes that are emerging from across Wales can be found here:

We are asking people to read the information contained in the Area Statements and to consider how it can help them in their respective areas of work and day-to-day decision-making. If you are interested in working with us and other stakeholders, then please let us know (see ‘Contact’ below).