Building on the successful consultation of the Welsh Government’s Circular Economy Strategy: Beyond Recycling, Miller Research was appointed by the Welsh Government to review the arrangements between the strategy’s six delivery partners.

The proposed strategy – expected to finalise at the end of this year – set out six core themes and eight headline actions to accelerate Wales’ journey towards resource efficiency, and net-zero waste and carbon emissions by 2050. The transition to a circular economy – defined as maintaining resources for as long as possible, and minimising waste – was recognised as a central contributor to achieving the strategy’s aims.

To ensure the successful implementation of the strategy, the Miller Research team, together with associates at Copper8, are reviewing the current, proposed and future delivery arrangements between the Welsh Government and its delivery partners of:

• Waste and Resources Action Programme Wales (WRAP Cymru)
• Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
• FareShareCymru
• Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
• Repair Café Wales
• Local Partnerships across Wales

The establishment of effective delivery arrangements can support policy development, enable the cohesive delivery of the strategy, ensure that the best future options for the strategy are supported by Ministers, and allow Wales to secure a leading position in Europe’s resource-efficient strategic agenda going forward.

Our methodology for the review includes evaluation of current delivery structures through logic model development, and review of future delivery structures via the facilitation of a workshop and interviews with delivery partner representatives. Miller Research are engaging with circular economy teams across the UK nations, whilst Copper8 develop a comparative case study of approaches in the Netherlands as an example of good practice internationally.

This review builds on our previous experience of delivering projects for the Welsh Government centred on resource efficiency, waste, sustainability and the circular economy including the Circular Economy Consultation, Low-Carbon Pathway Consultation, Research into Single Use Plastics and the Review of Wales’ Waste Plan.

For more information about the review, please contact Geof Andrews, geof@miller-research.co.uk.