The polluter pays principle, of course, which means that if you create the waste, then you should be the ones who pay the cost of dealing with its consequences. And in this case, I think it's right that we should introduce extended producer responsibility, and require the companies who are responsible for producing so much of our waste to contribute to the costs of treating that waste. We've all heard from the Marine Conservation Society how, if we don't change things by 2050, we could have more plastic than fish by weight in our seas, which is a very sobering thought. 

Now, there are serious concerns, of course, regarding where our recycled plastic waste goes, and we heard some of that in the opening contributions, so I won't repeat it. But it does remind us, and increasingly show us, that rather than just recycling, we have to prevent the use of plastics, particularly single-use plastics, in the first place. And action should be taken at all levels of Government, with the aim of achieving zero waste.

We believe this should include a levy on single-use plastics to work alongside a deposit-return scheme for bottles and cans, in order to prevent waste from occurring in the first place, and to reward reusing and increasing recycling where that is necessary. The carrier bag levy, of course, was first introduced in Wales, and it shows how a small step can make a big, big difference. And deposit-return schemes have also been found to be very effective. In countries with such schemes in place, of course, we've seen high levels of bottle recycling: over 90 per cent in Norway, Sweden and Finland, and 98.5 per cent in Germany, which are levels at the moment that we in Wales can only dream about. 

As stated in Eunomia's report on options for extended producer responsibility in Wales, if the Westminster decides against implementing a deposit-return scheme or a beverage container tax, the Welsh Government could still bring about a Wales-only deposit-return scheme. The Welsh Government has stated that it intends to work with the UK Government on a Wales-and-England basis on measures to tackle waste, but, of course, we're still waiting to see how far measures from the UK Government will go in this area. Yes, it's welcome news, as we've heard, that there will be a tax on single-use plastics, as announced in the 2018 UK budget, however it's disappointing, as far as I'm concerned, that there won't be a tax on disposable cups, and we await the outcome of their consultation on extended producer responsibility.

If the UK Government isn't ambitious enough in its plans to stop plastic pollution, then the Welsh Government should take the lead, as it did with the carrier bag charge. And I'd like to ask the Minister, therefore, what discussions she's had with the UK Government on this issue recently, and what progress we can expect to see, because if it's clear that the UK Government won't be introducing the radical changes that we need to tackle this problem, then the Welsh Government needs to commit to introducing its own legislation. We need behavioural change at a pace and scale that we haven't previously seen in order to tackle this problem. In Wales, we can and we should go further and faster than the UK Government on this, especially when we have a clear consensus across this Assembly Chamber. And, so, I am pleased to give my full support to this legislative proposal.