Written question WQ82900

In March this year, we published Beyond Recycling: a Strategy to make the circular economy in Wales a reality. It sets out our commitment to action and to use the powers and levers that we have to accelerate our transition to a circular, zero carbon economy. Last month, the new Programme for Government reaffirmed this commitment.

In developing the Strategy, we undertook to take immediate action recognising the urgency needed in response to the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis.

180 projects across Wales have already received funding through our £40m Circular Economy Fund. These include:

• The Naked Takeaway Project in North East Wales – where local restaurants in Mold, and other local towns are using re-usable food containers. The award-winning scheme is estimated to save around 26,000 single use plastic takeaway food containers and 5,200 single use cardboard pizza boxes being used over the 12 months pilot.

• Newtown Repair and Re-use Hub – this project includes plans for a zero-plastic refill store, an expanded repair café and space for selling donated items from the local Household Waste Recycling Centre. There are also plans to hold community workshops on the site giving a new lease of life to an empty high street building.

• Remakerspace at Cardiff University – this project has been developed by the PARC Institute to support and promote the transition to a circular economy, through advancing knowledge, providing workshops and training and engaging the community and businesses about remanufacturing, repair and product life cycle extension. It will bring businesses, communities and academics together to improve product design.

Alongside the Circular Economy Fund, action already being delivered includes:

• piloting a digital deposit return scheme in Conwy. This ground-breaking trial will assess the compatibility of a new scheme with our successful household recycling collections system.

• working with local authorities to roll-out ultra-low emissions refuse and recycling collections vehicles with trials taking place in Cardiff, Powys and Newport in the first instance.

• introducing a moratorium on large scale energy from waste developments.

Wales is already recognised as a world leader in recycling, which is now a part of who we are as a nation. Our aim is to now go further on our pathway to a zero waste, zero carbon nation, by accelerating the transition to a circular economy.