Plastic stirrers, straws, cotton buds and plastic cutlery could all be banned in Wales.
The Welsh Government wants to ban the sale of the 10 items commonly littered.
They are straws, stirrers, cotton buds, single-use plastic cutlery, and expanded polystyrene food packaging and drinks containers.
Deputy minister Hannah Blythyn told AMs during a debate on plastics, put forward by Labour AM Huw Irranca-Davies, that the Welsh Government is looking at an outright ban.
Proposals are also being looked at for a deposit-return scheme, where people receive payment for recycling items.
She said that a consultation has recently been launched to require businesses to separately collect materials for recycling for collection which would result in more recycling and less landfill.
She said that a Bill banning single use plastics had been suggested by colleagues.
"It's right that we should aim to prevent or reduce unnecessary non-recyclable plastic products and packaging where we can. I am committed to taking action to reduce our consumption of single-use coffee cups and other single-use cups for beverages.
"A range of options are currently being actively explored," she told AMs.
"I'm certainly singing from the same hymn sheet as members who are calling for us to prevent or reduce unnecessary or non-recyclable plastic products and packaging. I'm keen to go further and faster in this area".
She said she understood the desire for things to move quickly but said the system was complex and it had to be made sure that "we do things in the right way that doesn't have any unintended consequences".
She referenced large-scale events at stadiums and said while there has been a "shift in terms of good practice...perhaps we need a little push to take that work over the line now".
Ms Blythyn said the Welsh Government was working with Scottish and UK equivalents but "we are not afraid to go it alone if needs be".
During his contribution, Mr Irranca-Davies said Wales could be a "world leader" on "significantly reducing single-use plastic waste".
"Complete bans on single-use plastics like carrier bags, done in Bangladesh and in Canada, have worked; plastic straws have been banned in some US states, and cutlery banned in France have proven the easiest way to make a dramatic effect.
"In Wales, we should actually take a broader approach, and we should include cotton bud sticks and cutlery, beverage stirrers and straws, plates, sticks for balloons, expanded polystyrene food containers, beverage containers and cups, wet wipes, plastic sauce sachets, and we should consider now phasing out all single-use carrier bags totally."
His proposal - which had cross-party support - proposed there should be a Bill on the use of single-use plastics, intended to:
- significantly reduce the use of single-use plastics based on the best international practice and research, which would establish Wales as a world-leader in reducing plastic waste
- introduce appropriate taxes and levies to significantly reduce the production and use of single use plastics in Wales
- introduce a cross-government action plan including a comprehensive suite of measures to significantly reduce use of single use plastics
- establish targets and milestones for the reduction of specific single-use plastics
He quoted the 5p paper cup levy which he said led to a 156% increase in the use of reusable cups in just six weeks in Starbucks in London.
"Evidence shows the greater the plastics levy, the greater the impact. In Wales, we could extend this to harmful products that fall outside the extended producer responsibility and market restrictions, so plastic clothing and balloons, chewing gum, single-use pens, protected postal packaging and wet wipes. "
"We could introduce a carefully targeted single-use plastics tax based on the proportion of recycled material in the product and with penalties for virgin plastic use. We could offer as well tax incentives, such as temporary tax relief or reductions for support of sustainable procurement and bulk purchasing in business improvement districts for zero-waste towns, or for other organisations pursuing zero-waste status, such as schools and hospitals, or even individual zero-waste retailers and businesses and reuse and repair initiatives.
The proposal had support from across the political parties in the Senedd.
Want to know more about plastics, here's some of our stories:
- I kept every piece of plastic I used in a week and this is what it looked like
- Volunteers who have spent a decade cleaning Cardiff rivers
- How to save money on coffee in Cardiff , Newport and Swansea
- Plastic packaging from a Welsh council was found in Malaysia
- What happens to your recycling after you leave it on the pavement
- Plastic is being turned into a fuel for your car by Swansea scientists
- Two thirds of plastic food containers are unrecyclable
- Plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds to be banned in the UK
- Plastic could be banned from these towns
- Why litter picks are good, but more needs to be done
- Businesses which are already cutting their use of plastic
