Since its establishment in 2013, the task force has produced a number of reports. These include:
- Resource resilient UK identified the barriers to business becoming more resilient, profitable and sustainable through better resource productivity, helping the UK to increase its resource security.
- Wasted opportunities showcased how addressing the UK’s broken recycling system can foster higher value reprocessing, and begin to encourage more valuable remanufacturing and redesign.
- UK resource governance for the 21st century highlighted the business risks from the UK's poor performance in improving resource security and productivity, and analysed potential solutions.
- Recycling reset: how England can stop subsidising waste identified an opportunity to rethink the household recycling system and provided recommendations to guide a new policy for England.
- Lean and clean: building manufacturing excellence in the UK proposed a manufacturing upgrade programme to support businesses in raising their resource efficiency in order to help close the north-south productivity divide and keep good jobs in the UK.
- A new direction for UK resource strategy after Brexit looked at how Defra can manage the divergence from existing EU waste and resource governance and create new policies after Brexit.
- Completing the circle placed a spotlight on the amount of material often lost to the economy once collected, proposing new measures to complement recycling targets and 'pull' these materials back into use.
- We have also published the infographic, The social benefits of a circular economy: lessons from the UK, which demonstrates the social benefits of a more circular economy and how EU policy can help to deliver them,
- Many of the task force recommendations were adopted by Defra’s 2018 resources and waste strategy, including harmonising recycling services and implementing an extended producer responsibility regime. Our recommendations on the need to complement recycling targets with waste reduction and resource productivity targets are being taken forward through the Environment Bill target setting process.
- The recommendations of the task force have been picked up by many parliamentary inquiries. These include the Environmental Audit Committee’s Growing a circular economy report and its Electronic waste and the circular economy report, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s Plastic food and drink inquiry report, as well as the Scottish Government’s Resource use and the circular economy inquiry.
- The task force also established the North Sea Resource Roundabout project, working with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the UK to identify the regulatory barriers to the trade and use of recycled materials across European countries, and working with regulators to develop solutions.