I’d like to thank Simon Thomas for his comments and I look forward to him shadowing me; I hope his jokes improve over the coming months. I actually agree with you about the circular economy, because when the title of the statement was put in front of me, I baulked a bit. But I think you’re right; we need something that people very much understand and can grasp hold of. We have made a huge amount of progress, and, as you say, it is a good news story. To be where we are in the UK and in Europe is a real success story. Clearly, we need to do more to get over that 59 per cent that we have to reach our target. And I think there is more that we can do, but it is about ensuring that the public come with us in relation to that.

You asked what more we can do, because, obviously, we’ve probably come to a bit of a plateau really, and there is going to have to be further action to go forward. You asked specifically about a deposit recovery scheme, and I know that has been looked at. You may be aware that currently the Scottish Government are doing a great deal of work around this, and we are sort of actively working with the Scottish Government—there’s no point duplicating the work that they’re doing—and we’re waiting for some advice from them. Officials are working very closely together. My early understanding of having such a deposit recovery scheme is that it would be incredibly complicated to introduce. But, certainly, I am looking to have that advice, and I know that, again, my officials have been working with stakeholders on whether we should do that.

I thought it was very interesting what you said about cleaning up on a beach, which you are to be commended for, and it was the plastic tops. I remember when I was first elected, back in 2007, not doing a beach scheme—we don’t have any beaches in Wrexham—but, you know, going on a litter pick, where it was carrier bags. And I think the fact now that we don’t see many carrier bags littering is because of the legislation that this place brought forward to reduce the use of those. I think the point you made also about agricultural shows and festivals is very good. Plastic can’t be reused practically. So, I think we need to look at what we can do, going forward.

I did mention about the people of Wales knowing what happened to the products that are recycled, and I think there’s a conversation that I need to have with my colleague, the Minister for economy and infrastructure, around this. And, certainly, we need to encourage businesses. In fact, in Ken Skates’s own constituency—I’ve made a visit myself—there is a new company that recycles coat hangers, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of coat hangers going through this. So I think it’s something that we could do, to encourage new businesses like that to come to Wales.

I think, in relation to incineration, prevention is obviously the key, but, again, it’s very early days in my portfolio. I need to have a look at that, but, certainly, I think we need to continue to focus on where we have been with that.

You asked about commercial waste, and I think you’re quite right—if we’re encouraging households to do it, we should be encouraging businesses. They recognise that recycling saves them money. But I think we also need to look at extending producer responsibility, and making sure that they design products that will last longer, that they think about what happens to the products when they get to end of life, how they can then be recycled or repaired, and thinking about the infrastructure that needs to be in place there.