Dr Colin Church has been appointed as the new chair of the business-led Circular Economy Task Force.
He is the chief executive of CIWM and has 21 years of civil service experience most recently as director of environmental quality at Defra. He was responsible for the government’s support for waste infrastructure development, and was previously a non-executive director of WRAP.
Colin Church will be steering the Circular Economy Task Force at an important time for UK resources policy. Leaving the EU could mean the removal of most of the UK’s policy drivers for greater resource productivity, or it could prove a catalyst to develop new policy to cut waste and help the UK’s economy become more circular.
The Circular Economy Task Force is entering its fifth year of work as a forum for policy innovation and ambitious business thinking. This next phase will consider the role of effective resource management in the UK’s new industrial strategy and the government’s forthcoming 25-year plan for the environment. These will both shape the resource policy framework as the UK leaves the EU.
Previous analysis by Green Alliance, on behalf of the business group, has stimulated a current government review of recycling systems across the UK. Its most recent report, Recycling Reset published in January, has set out detailed recommendations for how to improve recycling in England.
He takes over from Sue Armstrong Brown, former policy director at Green Alliance.
Colin Church said: “The Circular Economy Task Force has been a key part of the policy debate for the past few years, so I am privileged to be asked to lead it as it continue its work in what’s shaping up to be a fascinating and crucial time for the circular economy debate in the UK.”
