What to expect from environmental law in 2026 – Waste and Circular Economy

This is the last of our five articles on what to expect from environmental law in 2026. This article focuses on Waste and Circular Economy.

Whilst the proposed abolition of the lower rate of landfill tax was dropped in the Autumn Budget, there were a number of other key developments in the waste sector during 2025.  In January, the extended producer responsibility for packaging regime was consolidated into one key set of regulations which covers registration, data reporting, recycling targets and payment of fees for certain producers. In addition, a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) was introduced for England and Northern Ireland (our summary of the key aspects of the regime is here), a ban on disposable vapes came into force and legislation was made which will ban plastic wet wipes from Spring 2027. 

In 2026, we can expect to see: 

• The publication of the ‘circular economy growth plan’ is expected in early 2026, following an 18 month review by the Circular Economy Taskforce.  Originally expected in the Autumn of 2025 (and formerly named the Circular Economy Strategy), the growth plan is expected to set out how the UK’s progress towards circularity can be monitored and evaluated, along with how Government policy can prompt change. 

• Digital waste tracking will be introduced from October 2026, with an initial focus on waste receiving sites and a wider rollout planned in due course.  Some waste operators have already been given access to the Government’s beta tracking software, with a wider public rollout of the beta service due in the Spring.  Operators of waste receiving sites should ensure that they are comfortable with their digital waste tracking obligations before the statutory obligations come into force later this year. 

• Reforms to the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regulation to bring it within the environmental permitting regime and the removal of certain waste exemptions (and restrictions on several others) to remove the ability for operators to hold multiple exemptions on a single site or exemptions on permitted sites may be introduced in 2026.  Introduced in response to growing concerns over waste crime in England and Wales, these changes have been on the cards for some time and were reiterated in the updated EIP.  We are not aware of any firm implementation timelines yet, but waste operators should keep a look out for updates on these changes as they may have significant implications for their daily operations. 

• Publication of more details relating to the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to include ‘operator based’ domestic maritime emissions from July 2026 and the commencement of the two year voluntary monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) period (which started 1 Jan 2026) ahead of the inclusion of emissions from energy-from-waste and waste incineration facilities from 2028.

Burges Salmon advises on a wide range of environmental law, including the topics outlined above.  If you have any questions on environmental law please contact a member of the Environment Team.

Written with the assistance of Nick Churchward and Helena Sewell.