(Title Image: Welsh Youth Parliament)
The Welsh Youth Parliament has recommended a ban on single-use plastics.
A committee, made up of 20 Members, published a report entitled “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” (pdf) after the issue of plastic waste and littering was selected to be one of the Youth Parliament’s top three priorities at their first meeting in 2019.
The report recommends, amongst other things:
- The Welsh Government should take stronger measures to ban single-use plastics (except essential exceptions), introduce greater producer responsibilities and consider a deposit-return scheme – ideally before the next Senedd election in 2021.
- An education programme in schools to discourage littering and inform students about the negative impact of plastic waste.
- More recycling facilities on all educational facility grounds and also more recycling bins and refill stations in public places.
- Local authorities should ensure their procurement policies reflect environmental and wellbeing objectives.
87% of young people surveyed by the committee said that reducing waste and recycling was important to them, while 67.5% would support some form of ban or restriction on single-use plastics.
The Welsh Government has already started moves towards banning the most commonly-used single-use plastics in Wales, with a public consultation recently closing. The aim is for a ban to be introduced by autumn 2021.
