High landfill rates compared with flatlining rates of recycling have ensured that waste disposal is once again on the legislative agenda in England. In 2018, the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs published ? Our Waste, Our Resources: A Strategy for England? which is the first major policy publication on waste since 2013. Encouraged by the release of this Strategy, this article examines the potential use of extended producer responsibility and the ? polluter pays? principle to fuel the transition to a circular economy.