And, according to Ms Armstrong, the tobacco industry is not quaking with fear about a wave of plain packaging legislation.

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There was no place in the Queen's Speech for proposals to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes or legislation on minimum alcohol pricing, although Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has insisted both plans are still under consideration.

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The Union introduced recycling requirements on all packaging in the early 1990s, and has just formally adopted legislation to require recycling of motor vehicles.

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That does not mean just televising Parliamentary debates - "because watching a Parliamentary debate is like watching paint dry" - but packaging the type of work Parliament does "so that people understand how we arrive at legislation".

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Anti-tobacco legislation like those imposing smoking bans in public areas, compulsory health warnings on the packaging and restrictions on advertising and marketing add to further decline in tobacco sales.

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Called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), this legislation would essentially set requirements for companies to collect and recycle a certain percentage of the packaging waste they generate, but would leave how they go about doing it up to the companies themselves.

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