A team of officials within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are hard at work on preparing the new resources and waste strategy which could be published as soon as September this year.

The strategy is expected to cover the life cycle of a product with sections aimed at design, manufacturing and end of life in terms of recycling and the circular economy.

A core part of the document will cover the costs that producers pay towards recycling. At present the UK uses the packaging waste recovery note system, known as a PRN for short.

This funds about 10-15% of the costs of collection by local authorities of materials which come under the system, such as plastic bottles, metal cans and cardboard boxes. There are pressures on government to get producers to pay a higher contribution towards the work of the local authorities and so the Defra officials are looking at a range of options.

Updated stances on other sectors such as battery recycling, waste electrical equipment and materials ranging from mattresses to paint will be covered in the strategy. While schemes are already in place for batteries and electrical equipment, voluntary producer responsibility measures can be expected for these other products, notably mattresses which are currently a notable cost for local authorities to dispose of.