National Waste Strategy
The National Waste Strategy is a policy of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as well as the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The development of national waste strategies is intended to foster a move to sustainability in waste management within the United Kingdom. Structure. The Environment Act 1995 added a requirement to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requiring the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to prepare a National Waste Strategy for England and Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, a Strategy for Scotland. The  Strategy must include: The statutory objectives are: England. Waste Strategy 2000 (WS2000). The first version of the Strategy for England and Wales was published in May 2000. By 2007 Defra reported that: Waste Strategy for England 2007 (WS2007). WS2000 was superseded by the Waste Strategy for England 2007 which was published in May 2007. The main proposals for England were to: Waste Management Plan for England (2013). WS2007 was superseded by the Waste Management Plan for England in December 2013. It did not introduce any new policies or change the landscape of how waste is managed in England. Its core  aim was to bring current waste management policies under the umbrella of one national plan. It reports that (at the time of publication) "recycling and composting of household waste in England increased to 43% and business recycling rates have increased to 52%. Local authorities, who cover all household waste and some commercial and industrial waste, have reduced the amount of waste they send to landfill by about 60% since 2000." Wales. Wise About Waste: The National Waste Strategy for Wales (2002). The Welsh Assembly Government published Wales' first national waste strategy in 2002, which replaced WS2000. The targets set in  the strategy included those where Wales must meet targets set for the UK in EC Directives, primary Wales specific targets where the Assembly Government and its key partners (e.g. local government) had a direct influence over their outcome and secondary Wales specific targets where the Assembly Government’s influence is less. Towards Zero Waste: One Wales. One Planet (2010). Wales published its updated national waste strategy, Towards Zero Waste, in 2010. It sets out how the Welsh Assembly Government will build on the successes achieved through Wise About Waste, via a long term framework for resource efficiency and waste management  between now and 2050. Scotland. National Waste Plan (2003). Published in 2003, the National Waste Plan established the direction of the Scottish Executive’s policies for sustainable waste management to 2020. It had the following waste management objectives: Scotland's Zero Waste Plan (2010). The Zero Waste Plan sets the strategic direction for waste policy for Scotland up to 2020. Its objectives include the following: Northern Ireland. Waste Management Strategy 2000 - 2006. In March 2000 the Department of the Environment published the first waste management Strategy for Northern Ireland. This set out how waste generated should be managed based on  the waste hierarchy. Towards Resource Management: The Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy 2006 - 2020. In 2006, the Department of the Environment published Towards Resource Management, which focused on the period up to 2020. The strategy highlighted the need to increase waste recycling and recovery in a number of ways that included: Delivering Resource Efficiency (2013). The revised waste management strategy entitled Delivering Resource Efficiency was published in 2013. It retains and builds on the core principles of the previous strategy, Towards Resource Management.