Diolch, Llywydd. Wales, at 64 per cent, has the highest municipal recycling rate in the United Kingdom. We are a long way ahead of the other UK nations and within a few percentage points of the best in the world. We’ve made great advances in sustainable waste management and must use this as a springboard for further development of the circular economy in Wales.

A circular economy is one where materials can be productively used again and again, creating added value and associated multiple benefits. Recent studies by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, WRAP and the Green Alliance have identified potential savings and income of more than £2 billion each year to the Welsh economy and up to 30,000 new jobs through the development of a more circular economy. We need to place much more value on the resources we all too often take for granted, reduce what we use, and wherever possible keep materials and goods in use for longer. We must move away from the throwaway culture we are all too familiar with and encourage behaviours that will help protect our environment. The success we’ve seen in Wales is largely due to the clarity and direction of the national waste strategy for Wales towards zero waste. I want to continue to work closely with all interested parties, from the citizens of Wales to local authorities, business and the third and public sectors to ensure progress towards our ambitious targets is maintained. Achieving a more circular economy is a challenging task that involves all parts of the supply and waste management chain.

Last year, we asked WRAP to set up a circular economy taskforce for Wales, involving representatives from manufacturers, retailers, local authorities and the waste industry. Their initial focus has been on plastics, where in Wales we have a significant number of diverse manufacturing companies producing moulded plastic products and components. WRAP is working with stakeholders to produce a plastics route-map with the aim of creating a better market for recycled plastic in products made in Wales. This will help create jobs in Wales and reduce our reliance on overseas markets for waste plastic.

The Welsh Government has allocated capital funding of £6.5 million to develop a significant number of small-scale capital projects to assist SMEs in making the transformation towards a circular economy approach. We need to see more circular economy business models developed in Wales. Through procurement activities, the Welsh Government and the public sector can lead by example by saving money as a result of sustainable product selection, waste prevention, reuse and recycling. The Welsh Government is working with public sector bodies to drive cost-effective, sustainable outcomes in Welsh businesses in the public sector supply chain, so they can develop more sustainable products and services, using resources more efficiently, including products using high recycled content, designed for reuse, ease of repair, disassembly and recycling.

An excellent example of the power of public sector procurement can be seen in the case study produced by WRAP Cymru on the use of remanufactured furniture by Public Health Wales when they moved to a single central office in Cardiff. All of over 2,000 items of furniture were either reused or remanufactured using a third sector organisation, yielding significant social benefits as well as environmental ones.

I’m committed to driving forward policies that will deliver on a more circular economy for Wales and will be introducing additional measures to increase resource efficiency in Wales. We are developing a route-map for a more resource-efficient economy, building on our success in recycling and reducing the environmental impacts of production and consumption. This will be published for consultation in July 2018. I’m committed to a range of ideas, including proposals for legislation, setting higher recycling targets and setting new reduction targets. As part of the route-map, I intend to consult on an 80 per cent municipal waste recycling target for 2030, and a 50 per cent food waste reduction target by 2025. Data shows that despite our excellent recycling rate, there is still, on average, as much as half of the residual black bag waste put out by householders that is easily recyclable. This consists of the commonly recycled materials such as glass, paper, cardboard, metal cans, plastic and food waste. An 80 per cent recycling rate should be achievable, providing everyone plays their full part in recycling.

I’m sure all of us would agree that the amount of food wasted is unacceptable. Wasted food is also applying unnecessary pressures on our environment and on our limited natural resources. We must redouble our efforts and play our full part in challenging food waste, building on the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign and working more through the food supply chain through the Courtauld 2025 agreement.

Unfortunately, there is still a great deal of packaging that is difficult or impossible to recycle. Packaging is also a major component of the litter that blights our public spaces, land, coasts and seas. I’ve commissioned an extended producer responsibility study on food and drink packaging to look at measures to prevent waste, increase recycling and reduce litter on the ground and in our seas. It will investigate how producers and retailers may share more evenly the financial burdens of managing waste. A review of deposit-return schemes will also be included in the study. As part of the budget settlement, we have announced funding to support pilots to test the feasibility of deposit schemes for recycling. This will help inform the evidence base on extended producer responsibility.

Our tax-raising powers are an important part of new policy development. The recently published tax policy framework and work plan included a commitment to consider the case for introducing new taxes in Wales, exploring the policy and administrative elements and the mechanism for change. The devolution of tax powers provides a range of opportunities for the Welsh Government to develop a Welsh approach to taxation, and presents an opportunity to build on Wales’s leading role in recycling and waste reduction. Disposable plastic taxes in particular received public and stakeholder support during the debate on new taxes, highlighted most recently by a campaign and petition launched by Greenpeace to introduce a tax on plastics.