Defra has stated that it will launch a formal call for evidence for its future Waste Prevention Plan early next year.

This call for evidence will eventually inform the Government’s Waste Prevention Programme, and will focus on key areas for action.

The Waste Prevention Plan is thought to be among the priorities of newly appointed waste and resource minister Lord de Mauley, who, speaking at the WRAP annual conference in November, said he was ‘excited’ about the development of the programme.

Work on the plan originally began in January 2011, with the final document scheduled to be published by December 2013. The plan is being developed jointly by Defra’s waste and sustainable consumption and production teams.