Environmental (Commonwealth Union)_ As the world rushes into a greener tomorrow, the 2025 National Environmental Services Survey (NES) is emerging as a landmark step to chart the path of sustainable development in the UK environmental management sector. Against the backdrop of the growing ESS Expo, NES this year is going deeper into the evolving challenges, breakthroughs, and growth opportunities of the industry.
We are inviting environmental professionals across the UK to contribute to the national conversation, with responses due by 26 June. What is heard will help map the field of sustainable change and feed into the bigger government departments, such as Defra and the Environment Agency.
Firstly released in 2023 to coincide with the RWM (Resource & Waste Management) show, the NES has grown in ambition and size. In 2025, it reappears in an expanded format to reflect the increased range of the ESS Expo. To be held on 17–18 September at Birmingham NEC, the Expo will include not just RWM but also the Complete Auto Recycling Show (CARS) and the Metals Recycling Event (MRE), creating a hub for leading innovation and policy in the environmental sector.
What distinguishes the NES this year is its scope and strategic intent. The survey, in collaboration with charity partner Groundwork and commissioning sponsor Environmental Services Association (ESA), will collect data to identify the challenges and opportunities faced by those involved in sustainable operations, such as recycling managers and clean energy engineers.
Survey participants are being asked to weigh in on what they view as the industry’s greatest challenges. These are some of the most significant issues, like
- Increasing recycling rates
- Reducing waste and landfill dependency
- Accelerating advances in carbon capture
- Improving clean energy efficiency
- Identifying regulatory and financial hurdles to innovation
While doing so, the survey also opens up for comment sectors that are deemed most suitable for development, be it in terms of technological progress, shift in customer attitude, or policy guideline simplification.
An announcement by the organizers of the ESS Expo and RWM put the strategic significance of this exercise into perspective:
“Commissioned in collaboration with the ESA and Groundwork, the NES 2025 survey will provide valuable data that will help guide both industry strategy and the wider national conversation on environmental sustainability.”
The objective is not simply to collect opinions but to input these perspectives directly into planning and policy arguments. By bridging bottom-up sector realities and top-down decision-making, the NES hopes that any emerging framework for environmental services will be pragmatic and progressive.
Notably, the survey has been designed to be accessible and efficient; it takes approximately 10 minutes to complete and is open to anyone working within the environmental services landscape. Whether you’re operating recycling machinery, managing a waste recovery plant, developing carbon capture technology, or advising on environmental policy, your insights matter.
By July, the findings gathered are to be published in an in-depth report, providing a snapshot of industry strategy and sentiment at a moment when global environmental responsibility is at its highest point ever. As climate policy comes to influence economic agendas increasingly, activities such as NES 2025 are not just diagnostic tools but drivers of national alignment and innovation.
As sustainable development crosses the threshold from intention to action, vehicles like the NES offer a rare chance to bridge the policy-practice-progress gap. The message is unambiguous: those who work in environmental services have a chance and a responsibility to shape the systems that will shape the UK’s environmental legacy.
