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Dear Mike
Petition P-05-829 Ban Single Use Plastic Items in Wales
As you will be aware, the Petitions Committee considered the following petition, which was submitted by Ban Plastic Straws Wales, for the first time on 25 September:
We call on the Welsh Assembly to ban all single use plastic items within Wales; It is estimated that the UK and US alone throw away around 550 million plastic straws every day. Although each one is used for an average of just 20 minutes, they take centuries to break down. During a clean-up organised by the Marine Conservation Society last year, an average of 138 pieces of food and drink-related waste were found on every 100m of UK beaches.
This needs to stop and the environment needs to become a priority.
At the meeting, Members agreed that I should write to you to share details of this petition with the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee in the context of its inquiry into microplastic pollution in Welsh rivers.
Further information on the Petitions Committee’s consideration of the petition is available on the Assembly’s website at:
http://www.senedd.assembly.wales/ieIssueDetails.aspx?IId=22578&Opt=3
You will also be aware of three further petitions related to single use plastic currently under consideration by the Petitions Committee, which your Committee may also wish to be note in relation to its inquiry:
1 P-05-803 Our natural world is being poisoned by single use plastics...it’s time to introduce a tax!
2 P-05-822 Ban plastic straws (when drinking milk) in our schools
Please contact the clerking team at SeneddPetitions@assembly.wales if you would like any further information.
Yours sincerely
David J Rowlands AC/AM
Cadeirydd/Chair