Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:57 pm on 25 November 2020.
I will be supporting Janet Finch-Saunders and Llyr's proposals this afternoon. There is no doubt that we are all aware of the scourge of discarded plastic bottles and cans that litter our streets and are all too often found in some of our most beautiful, rural and seaside settings. I believe that the amount of such litter would be drastically reduced by the introduction of a deposit-return scheme, particularly with regard to plastic bottles and cans. However, the amount of deposit paid is critical to its success. People, particularly the young, will not bother to return these items for, say, 5p. The deposit return must be in the region of 25p for the scheme to be successful. Those of us who remember a deposit being put on a bottle of lemonade will point out to you, you could buy a full bottle for around 11p—old money, that is—with a thruppence deposit return, which represents a value of around 25 per cent. I hope the younger ones can stay with me on this old money concept. So, I would urge whoever brings in legislation on return schemes to take these figures into account. With something like 25p per item, even if a number of people continued to discharge their cans and bottles, there would be many who would be willing to collect such items for the financial rewards this would bring. If the Welsh Government is to bring forward any legislation in the sixth term, let it be the deposit-return scheme. We know how successful the plastic bag charge was, so let's bring forward this legislation with utmost urgency. Thank you.