Circular Economy Task Force appoints new chair

Dr Colin Church has been appointed as the new chair of the influential, business-led Circular Economy Task Force at a critical moment for UK resources policy.

Church is the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management, the professional body for the waste and resource management sector, with 21 years of civil service experience as former director of environmental quality at the Department for Food and Agriculture. He was responsible for the government’s support for waste infrastructure development, and was previously a non-executive director of the waste and resources organisation WRAP.

Church will lead the Circular Economy Task Force at an important time for British resources policy. Leaving the EU will remove the UK’s policy targets for resource management, though there is work to rethink how the UK can continue to improve resource use.

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.  And it’s most recent report, Recycling reset, published in January, has set out detailed recommendations for how to improve recycling in England.

Dr Church takes over from Sue Armstrong Brown, former policy director at Green Alliance.

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.”