Circular economy strategy summary
Published 22 April 2024
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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has a complex estate covering over 1,500 rural and urban sites, including over 100 prisons across England and Wales.
We are working to reduce costs, protect the environment and be less wasteful across the MoJ. We will create green jobs for prisoners by harnessing the unique capability of the prison estate to repair, remanufacture and recycle our resources.
Our ambition is to fully contribute towards the government’s target under the Environment Act to halve residual waste per person by 2042 and its target under the Climate Change Act to meet net zero by 2050.
Our 10 circular economy objectives are set out below, organised under our strategic priorities: waste governance, smart waste management and building an internal circular economy.
What is a Circular Economy?
ReLondon defines a circular economy as:
“An economy in which stuff is kept in use for as long as possible, delivering the highest value it can, for as long as it can. So rather than making, using and then throwing stuff away (a linear system), a circular economy means looking at each of those stages for new ways of cycling materials and value back into the system – using materials and products again and again, in many different forms.”
Waste governance
1. Meeting our obligations: work with staff and suppliers to meet our Greening Government Commitments, Environment Act duties and the 2042 waste reduction target.
2. Rethinking procurement: procure goods and services that support our waste reduction and circular economy aspirations.
3. Guidance and training: ensure staff can access appropriate training and learn from best practice.
4. Green skills and job creation: create a strong link between prison waste management and jobs for prison leavers.
Smart Waste Management
1. Reuse, waste segregation and recycling: establish the right processes so sites can reuse, segregate and recycle waste.
2. Food waste: understand the drivers behind food waste and support effective segregation and disposal working with our contractors.
3. Capital equipment: establish a transparent, value-for-money process for purchasing and maintaining waste capital equipment.
Building an internal circular economy
1. Repair and remanufacturing workshops: establish circular economy workshops to repair and remanufacture our assets.
2. Logistics and storage: improve our capability to store and move items around the MoJ estate.
3. Circular construction: reduce waste and embed circular economy principles in our construction programmes.
Our long-term circular economy vision
Our vision is to:
- Have sites with the appropriate infrastructure, equipment and contractor support to effectively reduce and manage waste
- Only procure durable, sustainable products that are made‑to‑be‑made‑again and can be repaired in prison workshops as many times as possible
- Dispose of all items that can’t be reused or repaired as sustainably as possible in accordance with the waste hierarchy
- Equip prisoners, prison leavers and MoJ service users with the knowledge and skills to gain jobs in the waste and circular economy sector
- Create simplified, accessible and comprehensive processes for waste disposal that alleviate operational burdens on staff
Best practice examples from across the MoJ estate
Prison waste management units
Prisons have waste management units where prisoners work to segregate, repair and recycle assets. This creates work for nearly 1,000 prisoners at any one time, leads to nearly 4,000 tonnes of material being salvaged and saves the taxpayer £2.5 million per year.
TV repair
The MoJ and HMPPS are working to reduce waste and avoid costs by repairing broken TVs and prisoner phones and reissuing them.
Boot refurbishment
In 2019, HMP Ranby established a boot cleaning workshop to disinfect, clean and repair old prisoner work boots. The displaced need to purchase new boots has saved over £48,000 on a £3,000 investment. Other prisons including HMP Hull, Hewell, Swinfen Hall, Highpoint, Littlehey and Lindholme have also had great success recycling and refurbishing work boots. This has saved thousands of pounds at each prison against the cost of purchasing new boots. In 2022/23, the MoJ has purchased boot refurbishment equipment for 10 further prisons.
Nutrition and food waste research
HMPPS and the MoJ are leading a unique research project to better understand which meals are wasted, the reasons why and the impact of food waste on prisoners and the prison environment.
Spring Clean 2023
Community Payback (CP) teams took part in clean-up projects in support of Keep Britain Tidy’s annual Great British Spring Clean campaign. The 2022 Spring Clean week saw 1,500 offenders spend almost 10,000 hours on 300 community clean‑up projects.
Creating jobs for prison leavers in the waste sector
Between 2018 and 2022, 47 prisons delivered 1,791 WAMITAB waste qualifications to prisoners. In January 2023, the MoJ hosted the ‘waste jobs routeway’ event, designed to create stronger links between prison waste management work and jobs in the waste sector.