Minister Dillon launches Public Consultation on Ireland’s Second Circular Economy Strategy
- Published on: 24 September 2025
- Last updated on: 24 September 2025
Minister for State at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment with special responsibility for the Circular Economy Alan Dillon, today launched a public consultation on Ireland's Second Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy.
Launching the public consultation on the draft strategy at today's Environmental Protection Agency Circular Economy Conference, Minister Dillon said:
"Ireland is at a turning point. The circular economy is not just an environmental ambition, it is an economic and social opportunity. By rethinking how we design, use, and reuse materials, we can cut waste, protect resources, and create new jobs and businesses."
He added:
"Our economic growth has brought new demands, from housing and infrastructure to food and manufactured goods. To meet our EU targets, Ireland must significantly increase the amount of waste we recycle each year. That is why we have introduced major reforms such as the Deposit Return Scheme, expanded brown bin access, and new measures to make packaging easier to recycle. These changes are already making a difference, and this strategy will build on that momentum."
The core objectives of the Strategy include:
- Raising Ireland's circular material use rate (CMUR) by at least 2 percentage points each year
- Driving innovation, competitiveness and job creation by positioning Ireland as a European leader in circular business models and green technologies
- Decoupling economic growth from resource use
- Ensuring that circularity is a product design principle
- Empowering citizens to make the transition to a more circular lifestyle
A range of actions and associated targets across key sectors and cross-cutting priority areas are proposed in the Strategy. These include measures to promote the reuse and repair of products, resource-efficient building practices, design innovation for packaging formats, an extended producer responsibility scheme for textiles, increased grant allocations to support innovation in Ireland’s circular economy, development of an interconnected network of circular economy hubs, a national communications and awareness platform and the establishment of a national centre of excellence for the circular economy.
Highlighting the new strategy, Minister Dillon continued:
"The circular economy strategy sets out how we will raise our circular material use rates and make circularity a design principle for products and services. It is about turning waste into value and giving communities and businesses the tools to lead."
He outlined the actions being taken:
"The strategy includes a comprehensive programme of actions, from promoting the reuse and repair of products, supporting resource-efficient building practices, and driving packaging design innovation, to introducing extended producer responsibility for textiles, expanding grants to support circular innovation, developing a national network of circular economy hubs, establishing a national centre of excellence, and launching a nationwide communications and awareness campaign."
Finally, Minister Dillon outlined:
"This consultation is your chance to shape Ireland's circular future. We want ideas, insights, practical examples, and solutions from businesses, communities, and individuals."
The consultation will be open for six weeks, ending on 5 November 2025.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
Circular Economy
The Circular Economy is a means of preventing aste through keeping resources in use for as long as possible – repairing, sharing and recycling more.
It recognises the need to shift from the current linear (take-make-waste) model of production and consumption to one in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of life.
Government policy supports a transition to a circular economy.
The Circular Economy in Ireland to date
Ireland's Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy 2020–2025 provided an updated national waste policy with a range of aims and targets to guide the transition from waste disposal to resource preservation through a circular economy framework.
This was followed by Ireland’s first national strategy dedicated to the circular economy: the Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2022–2023 'Living More, Using Less'. This strategy set out the holistic government approach in a framework for the circular transition and explained how public sector leadership can work towards closing the Circularity Gap. It included awareness-raising measures and promoted investment in the circular economy.
The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 enshrined the circular economy in Irish law and provided a legal basis for actions to support it. This second iteration of the Strategy has a statutory basis and, in line with the requirements under statute through The Act, includes targets for key sectors, delivering on the potential to make significant contributions to the circular transition. The Act prescribes that actions and targets should be set for the construction sector, the agriculture sector, the retail sector, the packaging sector, the textiles sector, and the electronic equipment sector.
In 2024, the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices published their National Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy, which further enhances the regulatory framework by setting out the specific targets and actions which need to be taken by local authorities over the period 2024 to 2030 to achieve this transition.
The EPA’s Circular Economy Programme (2021 to 2027) is the driving force for Ireland's move to a circular economy. The vision for the Programme is an Ireland where the circular economy ensures that everyone uses less resources and prevents waste to achieve sustainable economic growth. The Circular Economy Programme provides leadership to ensure alignment of national, regional and local circular economy activities.
How to respond:
Submissions can be made by email to CircularEconomyConsultations@dcee.gov.ie or by post to:
Circular Economy Strategy Consultation
Circular Economy Strategic Policy Unit
Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.
Tom Johnson House,
Haddington Road.
D04 K7X4