Today I am announcing the publication of the waste prevention programme for England. The programme fulfils a commitment in the 2011 Government review of waste policy in England.

Preventing excess waste from arising delivers environmental, economic and social benefits, and is key to moving towards a more sustainable economy. The programme demonstrates the benefits of reducing waste, making the link to wider work on resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production. It sets out the aims and priorities, along with actions businesses, the wider public sector, civil society and consumers can take to benefit from waste prevention.

Many individuals and organisations are already taking action to reduce waste, which is highlighted in the programme. To encourage further action, we will support change in a number of ways. For example, we will bring industry together under a new sustainable electrical action plan to catalyse action and seek commitment on designing products for optimum life. Alongside this, we are supporting pilot projects and trials of takeback and hiring and leasing schemes to demonstrate the benefits of resource-efficient business models and supply chain innovation.

Supporting and making it easy for individuals to take action is equally important. We are developing a two-year, £800,000 scheme to support communities to take forward innovative waste prevention, reuse and repair activities. We will also develop a web-based postcode locator to provide a practical tool to enable householders to find their local reuse and repair services.

Specific actions for Government are highlighted and we will lead by example by continuing to reduce waste across the public sector and using Government buying standards to support cost-effective sustainable procurement. The programme does not propose any new regulation. It also fulfils a requirement of the revised waste framework directive (2008/98/EC).

At the same time as publishing the programme, we are also publishing:

An evaluation of the usefulness of measures identified in the revised waste framework directive along with a summary of existing activities.

A summary of the responses received and the Government response to the call for evidence and consultation published earlier this year.

An overview of evidence used to produce the programme.

As waste is a devolved matter, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have developed their own programmes.

Further information on the programme is available on the Government website.