, Minister for Climate
Change: I am pleased to announce that today
I am publishing a draft of The Environmental Protection
(Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill. Many people in Wales
are already taking action to reduce our reliance on single-use
plastics, changing habits and making products and services more
sustainable.
As a Government we are committed to supporting their efforts. The
Bill will be the first step in a programme of measures aimed at
tackling plastic pollution and delivering our Programme for
Government commitment to abolish commonly littered single-use
plastic products. Members across the Senedd have been calling for
urgent action to curb the use of non-essential and non-medical
single-use plastics, and I look forward to working with all
parties to ensure that action on plastics is as ambitious as
possible, building on our common concerns and those of the
communities we represent.
The Bill proposes to ban or restrict the sale of some of the most
commonly littered single-use plastics in Wales. The draft Bill
can be found by clicking the following link: https://gov.wales/environmental-protection-single-use-plastic-products-wales-bill.
The aim of publishing a draft of the Bill today is to give Senedd
Members and interested stakeholders an opportunity to see the
proposed scope and direction of the Bill before its formal
introduction in the autumn. It is not published for further
consultation at this stage. Work continues on the preparation of
the Bill and there are likely to be changes before it is
introduced to the Senedd. This is not therefore a final version.
I look forward to working with Senedd Members on the provisions
of the Bill during scrutiny after the Bill is introduced in the
autumn.
