Deposit-return Scheme

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 30 November 2021.

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Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 1:34, 30 November 2021

First Minister, last November, I was incredibly proud to have brought forward a legislative proposal for a Bill that would make provisions to introduce a DRS and, importantly, a majority vote went through to back those proposals. Now, in the first Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee meeting of the sixth Senedd, I was pleased also to secure a further commitment from your Minister for Climate Change that the Welsh Government will ensure that any DRS would be all in. Not only would this ensure compatibility with the UK, but between 77 per cent and 83 per cent of survey participants reported that they would use a DRS on most occasions for the five types of containers explored, including plastic bottles, glass bottles, metal cans for all soft drinks, alcoholic drinks and milk-based products. With this in mind, and given the autumn deadline for laying legislation that you committed to in reply to my FMQ in June, what efforts—and I know that you've mentioned this here today—have you made to review  the cost impact of operating an all-in DRS on local authorities? And, for anyone who's carried out beach cleans, too often we see many bottle caps and lids left strewn, affecting our marine environment. Given that the Marine Conservation Society's 2021 Great British beach clean found 18.7 caps and lids—