Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:52 pm on 23 October 2018.
Diolch. I think the Member is right to point out the consensus there is on this issue, not just within this place, but, I think, within the wider community and country as well, as we've seen awareness of recycling and the need to tackle the problem of plastic grow ever and ever in terms of the public consciousness.
You talked about what my colleague Jenny Rathbone raised earlier in business questions in terms of plastic waste and forward prevention. You're right to say the audit office report relates to England. In Wales, I can say that we do not currently have any current investigations into plastic packaging waste exporters. There are three exporters in Wales that have all been inspected and audited in 2018 and there aren't any specific concerns or suspicion of fraud.
But you're absolutely right, the answer to this is to have good infrastructure at home to treat the materials we collect and collect the materials in the best way that guarantees high-quality materials to be reused and reprocessed, which I'm absolutely clear now is a priority for us in this area in Wales. We need to be developing that infrastructure to enable us to do that, to not only get it right on the environment but to boost our economy at the same time.
You talked about the consultation going forward and the importance of real participation. I'm clear, if we're going to get to where we want to be on this, that we have to work collaboratively and we have to work together. I've been on a number of panels—I mention no names—with different stakeholders, and people will say, 'The emphasis should be on the consumer', 'The emphasis should be on the producer', 'The emphasis should be on Government.' But, I think the emphasis should be on all of us. We're only going to get to where we need to be by working together on that. So, I'm keen that any consultation, going forward, on businesses going forward to separate and collect their waste in the way that householders currently do does have participation from businesses to make sure that we get the right result for Wales in the long term and for future generations.
I think we've been clear from the outset, in terms of the deposit-return scheme, from the work that we've done, that it is considered the best approach, or the least complex in choosing a process for both businesses and consumers, and particularly given our porous border between Wales and England, to look at a Wales-and-England approach, which is what we will do with this consultation on DRS. The EPR consultation will be a consultation for both Wales, England and Scotland. With the DRS consultation, I think it's a Wales-and-England-wide consultation, but with specific Welsh input into it to make sure that it actually caters for our specific needs, because we are in a different position, perhaps, from some of our counterparts elsewhere, in England—not just in terms of where we are with our recycling figures, but also the statutory requirement on our local authorities, too, to make sure any approach we take in the future best complements that and doesn't have any unintended consequences for us. That's why it's right not just to target plastics but a whole host of materials as well.