Circular Economy Secondment in London

About Defra

Defra’s mission is to safeguard what matters most: food, water, air, and the safety of the country to create a world where businesses grow, people thrive, and our natural environment is protected for future generations. This is underpinned by our Secretary of State’s four priorities:

• EU Reset and a new agri-food agreement.
• Reforms to our water system.
• Backing British farming and the food industry.
• Restoring nature - proving that nature restoration and growth can go hand in hand.

The Government is committed to ending our throwaway society, transitioning to a circular economy. Every year we throw away £ billion of edible food; £4.5 billion in clothing; and £ million in electricals in the UK. We are wasting valuable resources, rather than reusing or recycling them to maximise their economic value for people across the country. The Government's highest priority is to drive economic growth. The transition to a circular economy is at the heart of this – stimulating investment and innovation, supporting trade and reducing the cost of living.

In delivery of these goals, Defra's Circular Economy Directorate's mission is to maximise and preserve the value of the Earth’s resources to society, the environment and our economy. To achieve this mission, we are delivering major reforms across the following pillars:

• Plastics and packaging reform, including continuous improvement of the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme and delivery of the deposit return scheme for drinks containers.
• Circular Economy work in areas such as agrifood, textiles, batteries, transport and electrical sectors.
• Waste and recycling sector infrastructure and performance, including Simpler Recycling.
• Tackling waste crime, litter and fly tipping, including Digital Waste Tracking.

Secondment Opportunities

• Plastics & Packaging Waste Regulatory Reform: To lead the implementation of packaging and packaging waste regulatory reform from a local authority perspective, advising on data flows, compliance challenges, and the interface between national targets and local delivery systems.
• Plastics & Packaging Packaging Technologist Innovation Advisor: To lead on packaging material design and innovation, advising on new recyclable and reusable formats, material substitution, and product design compliance with circular packaging principles.
• Plastics & Packaging Industry Expert in Plastics Reduction: To lead the development of a policy approach to reduce plastic use, including regulatory and non-regulatory solutions, behavioural change methodology.
• Plastics & Packaging Regulatory Expert in Plastic Reduction: To lead on policy and legislative mechanisms for plastic reduction, interpreting EU and UK regulatory frameworks, and supporting alignment between producer responsibility and circular design goals.
• Packaging Recovery Note/Packaging Export Recovery Note Secondee: To bring operational insight to the reform of the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) and Packaging Export Recovery Note (PERN) systems, supporting reforms to improve transparency and efficiency, and reduce fraud in material reporting.
• Waste & Recycling Waste Recycling Improvement Expert: To lead on identifying barriers and opportunities in collection, sorting, and reprocessing systems, and supporting alignment with Simpler Recycling outcomes.
• Software Vendor Secondee: To enable software vendors and operator IT teams to integrate successfully with Digital Waste Tracking. You'll build trusted relationships across the waste software ecosystem, identify and remove integration barriers, and ensure affordable solutions exist for all operator segments.
• Waste & Recycling Litter, Flytipping & Waste Crime: Local Place Lead: To provide expertise to litter prevention, enforcement, and waste crime policy, ensuring local delivery models are reflected in programme design.
• Waste Crime Enforcement Expert: To provide deep expertise and advise on enforcement frameworks, helping shape national and local enforcement approaches, identifying gaps and opportunities to strengthen compliance and deter illegal waste activity.
• Waste & Recycling Waste Management Secondee: To provide deep expertise and advise on waste shipments and hazardous waste, providing technical and operational insight on waste exports and/or hazardous waste management.
• Agrifood Waste Management Agrifood Secondee: To provide expertise in developing, managing, and operating anaerobic digestion (AD) and composting facilities for food-waste treatment, offering technical, scientific, operational, and financial insight to support effective policies and programmes.
• Textiles Industry Secondee: To provide expertise in textiles and circular economy principles, influencing policies that will reduce textile waste, promote reuse, and transform the way textiles are designed, produced, and managed.

Application Process and FAQs

Your Application - CV & Supporting Statement: Expression of Interest Application Format CV and Supporting Statement outlining the skills and experience you feel you can bring to the role. Please state the Role ID Number for which you are expressing an interest at the top of your supporting statement.

Supporting Statement: The Supporting Statement requirement is a maximum of words and will ask the question: “Referring to the Responsibilities and Skills and Experience sections of the job advert, please demonstrate how you are suitable for the role by providing relevant examples.”

How long should I spend writing my Supporting Statement? A supporting statement isn’t a one-size-fits-all document. In other words, a new personal statement should be written for each application. Although it might take some time to alter it according to each job role, your effort will make all the difference.

Send all Expressions of Interest and CVs to.

What is the duration of the secondment? The initial term is months, with the possibility of extension.

Am I eligible to apply for these opportunities? Please note that we can only consider applications from candidates who are permanently employed by an organisation and have received approval from their employer to apply. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from individuals working through a Ltd company, consultancy, as a sole trader, or under similar arrangements.

What is the location of these roles? The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least % of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home.

Learning & Development: Defra is committed to supporting secondees in developing their skills and advancing their careers. You will have access to a wide range of learning opportunities including a structured induction programme, senior Civil Service Mentorship, Civil Service learning and development platforms, and networking with fellow secondees.

Who pays the secondee? A secondment agreement will be created which will need to be signed by the home organisation, the secondee and DEFRA. The secondee will remain on their home organisation's payroll with DEFRA reimbursing the salary.

What about Liability? The home organisation will maintain reasonable insurance coverage for loss, injury, or damage caused to or by the secondee during the secondment.

What security checks will a Secondee need to go through? All secondees must complete Baseline Personal Security Screening (BPSS) checks. If the secondee is based in London, they will additionally need to go through Counter Terrorist Checks (CTC).