Diolch, Llywydd. Can I first thank Jenny Rathbone for bringing forward this proposal and everybody who's contributed to this debate? I think my colleague Hefin David was correct that you can tell the strength of a proposal by the amount of people who want to contribute to it. It's such a shame, on this occasion, that we do only have a short amount of time to discuss it. But I'm sure that this is something that will be revisited in this Chamber in the not-too-distant future. 

You're absolutely right that packaging, particularly plastic packaging, is a really high-profile issue at the moment and one that we know that we need to take action on before it's too late. I welcome the opportunity to have this debate today to take forward people's ideas on how we can tackle that in Wales.

We've been working closely with the UK Government on reforming the producer responsibility regime for packaging—so, extended producer responsibility. We know that currently producers contribute around 10 per cent of the end-of-life packaging costs, which is unjust, unfair and fails to incentivise these producers to use more recycled content or easily reusable packaging that can be reprocessed. As other Members have also pointed out, it also places the cost of the burden of managing our packaging waste onto our local authorities and citizens. So, on this EPR, which we will be consulting on jointly for England and Wales, that will also include modulated fees in it, which would actually help to contribute to local authorities as well, to redress that balance.

I think you've been clear from the outset, as I have, that it's one of the things we see—. Julie Morgan mentioned plastic-free Rhiwbina and we're seeing communities across the country taking action and the onus is on Government to take action too, but also on all of us as businesses, producers, and retailers as well. So, I want to see reform and change to the current regime, ensuring that producers take more responsibility.

Last month, I met with my Scottish Government counterpart to collectively press for that reform, and that the increased revenue generated will properly flow into Wales and other parts of the UK. And I'm obviously happy to update Members in more detail, I'm just conscious of the short amount of time that I've got to speak today, but I'm happy to update Members further on that as we progress. This will obviously enable us to drive further and faster in terms of our recycling.

Alongside this, Julie Morgan and others mentioned deposit-return schemes. We'll also consult on a deposit-return scheme as well for England and Wales, but as you've already said, we're open to doing this as well separately—to consulting Wales. 

I'm keen specifically to making sure that the joint consultation takes into account the specific set-up that we have in Wales. We're the only nation that has statutory targets—so, making sure that that fits into the regime that we already have and complements and builds on that success as well. 

We'll also be consulting on Part 4 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. As a Member across the Chamber said, we take responsibility as households now with our recycling, and businesses need to do the same and separate their waste for collection, as we have been doing for years now.

On the basis that there's imminent significant activity in this area, the Welsh Government will be abstaining on this motion today, but the proposals are sound and I think it is an excellent proposal. As environment Minister, I place a strong focus on waste management and on building on the record that we already have on recycling. As the Member said, recycling is just one end and it's actually about looking at reusing, reducing and how we start to tackle things at the start of their life as well as at the end of their life.

David Melding mentioned—I didn't catch the name of the venue in Canton, the reuse place. I've visited a number of reuse places in the last few months and I'm pleased that the Welsh Government have been able to commit funding to support those sorts of initiatives as well, because as you said, not only does it have environmental benefits, but you see the broader social and economic benefits that these initiatives bring. You can find some amazing bargains as well—I actually had a look through the vinyl in the last place I went to while I was there.

We were talking about the circular economy, and the circular economy is key. I want us to be the most circular nation in the world when it comes to our economy, so that we're not only investing in our environment, but investing in the prosperity of our country and our people as well. I think it's one of the things we've been working on long before it became quite a fashionable term, but it has actually now solidified in the areas the Member has suggested as well, and in the work that we're doing in investing with Welsh businesses to help them to try and move to a more sustainable alternative as well. 

Ultimately, we want to see people recycle, we want to see non-necessary packaging reduced to an absolute minimum and make sure that any recyclate is able to be reprocessed and recycled. So, in concluding, I just want to reiterate my welcome for this proposal put forward today, which resonates with the Welsh Government's strategy towards zero waste and our pathway towards a more circular economy in Wales. Diolch yn fawr.