5. Statement by the Minister for Environment: The Environment in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:17 pm on 17 April 2018.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 5:17, 17 April 2018

I'm shocked to hear the Member say that exiting the European Union is a good thing in terms of our environmental protections. Because of the threat of that—what I would say is that there's a very real chance that we risk having our protections rolled back, but also our powers rolled back, and the undermining of the legislation that we have in place. But as a Welsh Government, we remain, as I reiterate, absolutely committed to actually maintaining and meeting our international obligations when it comes to the environment.

The Member also talks about—. You recognised at the start of your significant contribution there how we as a Welsh Government keep talking about our recycling success. I make no apologies for that, because I'm proud of our record on recycling, but also I recognise that there are still things that we need to do to build on that, which is why we've talked about these things today, and we'll be taking them forward in terms of looking at a deposit return scheme. We'll also look at extended producer responsibility, because actually, as I said in the statement, there's a responsibility that we don't let people use private profit and then the public purse picks up the bill in terms of the social and environmental impact. We need to change that, and it's really important.

The Member once again talks about certain countries being contributors to the problem around plastic, but whether or not we are part of the European Union, we live in an increasingly interconnected world, and I would say that it's part of our global responsibility as a global citizen to actually take the lead and show leadership when it comes to tackling plastic waste.