I want to concentrate on one aspect of plastic pollution, and it's been mentioned here earlier, of course, which is deposit-return. We have had a number of discussions and debates in this Chamber with regard to introducing a deposit-return scheme for plastic bottles, but there seems to have been little or no progress with regard to legislation on this subject. There's almost certainly cross-Chamber support for such legislation, as witnessed in earlier contributions, particularly David Melding's just now. The Minister for Environment at the time, Hannah Blythyn, stated as long ago as May last year that she was going to set up talks with Scottish, UK and Northern Ireland counterparts with a view to introducing such legislation. Did these talks take place and what was the outcome?

The scourge of plastic pollution is evident wherever we look: from our town centres to almost every walkway and, of course, in the huge volumes of detritus we see washed up on our shorelines. The time for action is now. We cannot procrastinate whilst this appalling form of pollution not only continues, but grows day by day.

There are two main solutions available: manufacture and distribute less, which should be our ultimate goal, and to recycle that which is being produced. Why is it that we were able to be the first country to put a tax on plastic bags, but we have not been able to go it alone with regard to introducing a deposit-return scheme not only for plastic bottles, but for glass bottles and drinks cans as well?

One word of caution: if we are to introduce deposit-return, then the deposit must be at a level that encourages everyone to recycle. It will be of little use putting 5p on an item—children, in particular, have no value on such amounts. In former years, the cost of a full Corona bottle was around a shilling, but the deposit-return was as high as thruppence. Now, for those who are unfamiliar with the old currency, that is a 25 per cent return value. As a young boy, I can assure you that was plenty of incentive to return your bottles, and, of course, any others you were fortunate to accumulate. I'm sure that a deposit-return scheme based on around the same percentages would have a massive impact on the recycling rates of not only plastic but glass and aluminium as well. I urge the Government to work with all of us in this Chamber to get the legislation in place to see this scheme go forward.