I congratulate Simon on bringing this legislative proposal forward, aiming to reduce waste through placing additional requirements on food producers and retailers. It builds on the good work already undertaken by the Welsh Government and this Assembly to tackle an issue that affects us all, and we all do have a responsibility to tackle not least the islands of waste now growing in our oceans and choking marine life.

Wales has been at the forefront in the UK of proposing and then implementing legislation to support waste reduction, from the ‘Towards Zero Waste’ strategy, ambitiously aiming for a zero-waste nation by 2050, to the waste Measure, which introduced, as many other Members have remarked upon, the single carrier bag charge, followed, four years subsequently, by England. The carrier bag charge is an example of a great waste reduction success story for beaches here in Wales, with a significant reduction in the number of carrier bags found—lower than any other year since 2011. But even so, packaging waste is still a problem in our oceans and on our shorelines.

Like others here, I’ve joined in with people of all ages at beach clean-ups, and results from the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean 2016 revealed that, of the 28 Welsh beaches surveyed in September 2016, on average 607 pieces of litter were found per 100 metre stretch. That is still an increase of 16 per cent from 2015. Alongside plastic and polystyrene pieces, much of the litter on our beaches is packaging—the packaging of items such as crisps, sandwiches, sweets, lolly wrappers, and so much more. It not only causes an eyesore for residents and those tourists visiting our many fantastic beaches, but it poses a threat to our marine wildlife and to our commercial fisheries as it takes years to degrade.

Wales has made good progress on waste reduction, but should always be more ambitious in looking at how we can reduce waste. Some of Simon Thomas’s proposals, supported by the Marine Conservation Society and many others, are worthy of further consideration, and by extending producers’ responsibilities we could reduce the amount of packaging on food and other items, ensuring a significant step is made in reducing the amount of packaging that gets thrown away—waste that, one way or another, inevitably washes up on our beaches and in our seas. So, there will be many practical issues to work through in the proposal, I’ve got no doubt. David Melding has referred to a few now, and Simon Thomas himself acknowledged that there would be some difficulties to work through, but they are not unsurmountable in any way. So, I do support Simon’s legislative proposal in principle today, and in spirit, and I’m sure we can get the letter right if this were to come forward as well, and I urge other Members to consider doing so as well.