West Midlands’ Circular Economy Routemap

• Hold workshop sessions with local authority constituent members to discuss region-wide circular requirements.
• Publish region-wide best practice guidance for circular design and construction methods, including a design requirements checklist.

• Work with seven local authority members to update planning policies to include circular design requirements.

• Work with seven local authority members to update policies on sourcing of materials and around building control.

• Lobby national government in developing policies and incentives that focus on high-quality design for products, goods and packaging.

• Introduce mandatory regional use of circular economy statement and CD&E strategies.

• WMCA’s role is to convene partners and facilitate collaboration. It will also lead on its own projects and sites.
• Local authorities are responsible for updating their policies.

• Seven local authority members.

• Low-Carbon Officer Group.

• National government.

• GLA’s Circular Primer: Example of circular policy and design requirements.

• London Plan 2021: Example of circular policies.

• Build on the notion of the Triple Access System of physical mobility, spatial proximity and digital connectivity.

• Hold workshop sessions between local authority constituent members and other partners to embed changes brought forward by the Waste Prevention Programme.
• Publish region-wide guidance for new waste regulations, including extended producer responsibility, deposit return schemes and right to repair.
• Lobby the national government to harmonise resource classification and definition of waste to simplify reuse, trading and transport.

• Audit and analyse existing waste management contracts to help harmonise waste collection and sorting across local authorities.

• Work with seven local authority constituent members to set higher targets for waste collection and recycling which are consistent across the West Midlands.

• Explore benefits of having a region-wide waste strategy.

• Explore benefits of re-introducing Site Waste Management Plans legislations.

• Introduce material specification requirements.

• Introduce mandatory Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).

• WMCA’s role is to convene key partners and stakeholders and facilitate partnerships and harmonisation across the region.
• Local authorities are responsible for the introduction of relevant legislation/regulation.

• DEFRA

• Seven local authority members, their waste

  officers in particular.

• National government.

• End of Life Vehicle Directive: Successful new law encouraging end of life recycling.

• Review existing regulations affecting circular economy practices and prepare a paper with proposed changes.
• Lobby the national government to reform taxation and fiscal incentives.
• Research and adopt accounting tools that better support transition to a circular economy.

• Lobby the national government to incrementally increase taxes on incineration and landfill.

• Lobby the national government to develop purchasing standards and certifications supporting the circular economy.

• Lobby national government to abolish environmentally harmful subsidies and tax breaks.

• Lobby national government to introduce a tax for businesses using materials that cannot be recycled when better alternatives exist.

WMCA’s role is to lobby the national government to change fiscal incentives in favour of the circular economy. This will require working in partnerships with various public and private partners.

• Seven local authority members.

• National government.

• LEPs including working with Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP (GBSLEP) on its review of Enterprise Zone Industrial Policy.

• Paris: Example of successful introduction of participatory budgeting.

• Milan’s Food Policy: Introduction of a 20% municipal tax reduction for organisations donating to food banks/charities.

• Apply existing best practice guidance and guidelines for circular public procurement based on ISO 20400.
• Organise a short programme of procurement roundtable to share best practice.
• Update WMCA single commissioning framework, grant contracts and procurement policies to align with circular economy outcomes.

• Work with local authority constituent members to introduce procurement policies that support circular economy outcomes.

• Develop collaborative agreements amongst local authority constituent members and other partners to facilitate and improve service provision.

• Launch a buying club for local authorities to aggregate and increase their collective purchasing powers.

• Work with outsourcing services to implement circular economy requirements.

• Mandate take-bake schemes and re-manufacturing in procurement.

• Standardize the use of EPDs with EPD-based contracting.

WMCA’s role is to enable local authorities and key partners in setting up new procurement processes that support the circular economy.

WMCA also needs to lead with its own procurement policies and processes.

• Seven local authority members.

• LEPs

• Black Country Consortium.

• Anchor institutions including Community Wealth Building Centre of Excellence (CLES).

• The Preston Model: Using procurement to generate and retain wealth locally.

• Toronto’s Circular Economy Procurement Plan and Framework: Leveraging purchasing power to drive waste reduction, economic growth and social prosperity through a circular economy approach.