WRAP’s report POWERING GOOD GROWTH – The Circular Economy Opportunity for Jobs, Manufacturing and Every Region of the UK suggests that circular economy activities such as repair, remanufacturing, reuse, recycling and biorefining can help spread economic opportunity across the UK by creating jobs, strengthening local supply chains and attracting investment into communities undergoing industrial transition.
In 2024, the circular economy sectors supported almost 559,000 jobs across the UK, generating more than £53 billion in GVA. WRAP’s latest examination – updating its 2019 assessment – shows the circular economy continues to provide a substantial employment base, support domestic resource flows, and strengthen economic resilience.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The global NGO’s modelling suggests that by 2035, even a modest progress towards a more circular economy could unlock almost £4 billion of additional economic value and support around 36,000 jobs across the UK.
More ambitious adoption of circular business models could generate more than £35 billion additional GVA, while a transformational shift could yield more than £93 billion and support a further 550,000 jobs in the circular economy, bringing the total to over one million.
Catherine David, WRAP CEO said: “By creating the right long-term policy and investment environment, we can support key sectors to grow, with new jobs in repair, reuse and remanufacturing. Not only will these actions create economic growth, they will strengthen the UK’s resilience, making our businesses and institutions less reliant on imported resources, as well as making positive contributions to people’s living standards.
“If we embed circularity into the UK’s growth agenda, the benefits will be felt for generations.”
To accelerate future expansion, WRAP is making the following recommendations to governments and businesses:
- Build on lessons from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to aid delivery of a Circular Economy Growth Plan for England. The UK Government’s commitment to a Circular Economy Growth Plan is key to ensuring benefits are delivered across England.
- Embed circular economy objectives within industrial and economic policy. The circular economy should be recognised first as an economic opportunity that leads to environmental outcomes.
- Strengthen support for repair, refurbishment and reuse. Repair and reuse sit at the heart of circular economy ambitions as they keep products in use for longer and retain more embedded value within the economy.
- Improve measurement and reporting of circular economy activity. Particularly activities difficult to measure using existing economic classifications, including remanufacturing and emerging circular business models.
WRAP has set out series of pathways by which the UK could accelerate circular economy activities and realise wider benefits by 2035. The scenarios show a basic Incremental Progress and become progressively more ambitious to show Accelerated Adoption of circular business models across the economy, up to an ultimate step-change Circular Economy Transformation, which could also add +37 percentage points to the UK’s recycling rate and increase remanufacturing by 50%.
