Evaluating National Circular Economy Practices in the UK: Setting a Strategic Agenda for a Nation-Wide Roadmap.

Abstract

This research presents a comprehensive analysis of Circular Economy (CE) practices across the United Kingdom, using advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, specifically Named Entity Recognition (NER), chosen for its reproducible, large-scale extraction of locations, sectors and 9R actions from 1.2 million words of policy text. The study examines 36 key documents, comprising roadmaps, policy statements, and sectoral reports, to categorise CE activities such as recycling, reduction, reuse, and recovery. The dataset includes 22,589 distinct entries, covering 52 locations, 34 industrial sectors, and 109 stakeholder categories. Notably, recycling emerges as the most dominant activity, representing 42.8% of all practices, which suggests an over-reliance on waste management solutions rather than upstream interventions like reduction and remanufacturing. Analysis shows that Construction & Demolition (19.8%) and Food & Beverage (13.7%) account for most initiatives, while the Digital, Electronics and Aviation sectors together contribute barely 1%. Local authorities lead 18% of actions, yet trade organisations add less than 1%. Regional priorities also differ: Wales directs 46% of activity to waste management, whereas Scotland and Northern Ireland devote 44% and 53% respectively to decarbonisation and resource-efficiency measures. These disparities reveal structural asymmetries in investment and skills and therefore justify a devolved-yet-co-ordinated policy mechanism, similar to the UK Industrial Strategy Council, that can harmonise regional targets while preserving local strengths. This research offers critical insights into sectoral and geographic patterns, allowing policymakers to prioritise gaps in existing CE initiatives. Although recycling diverts material from landfill, our results indicate that this downstream concentration yields lower value-retention and slower decarbonisation than upstream actions (e.g. design-for-reuse or remanufacturing), signalling an urgent need to rebalance UK policy towards the upper tiers of the 9R hierarchy. Notably, our findings reveal a fragmented approach to CE in the UK- with regions pursuing different priorities and a heavy reliance on recycling- underscoring the need for a unified national CE roadmap. We therefore recommend the development of an integrated UK-wide CE strategy that incentivises upstream practices (e.g. reduction and reuse) and harmonises regional efforts to achieve broader circular economy goals.