Diolch, Lywydd. I thank everyone for taking part in the debate today. Members will have heard me say on many occasions that the frequency of residual waste collections is a matter for individual local authorities, and this allows them to take into account local needs and reflect local priorities. We know that the Conservative Party is keen on localism and autonomy in local government, but in common with their party in Westminster, and in particular Eric Pickles, they seem, for some reason, to believe that localism shouldn’t apply to the collection of waste.

Increasing recycling rates and reducing residual waste are not just important because of EU targets, although, of course, that’s what the ‘Daily Mail’ would want us all to believe. Increasing recycling rates is important because it reduces our carbon emissions. It saves our councils money through reduced costs of disposal and it’s hugely important for a successful circular economy. Simon Thomas is absolutely right: the people of Wales have embraced this so much so that, as he said, we are fourth in the world now in relation to our waste collection, and first in the UK.

Evidence from the development of waste services by local authorities over the last decade shows the benefit of restricting residual waste to increase recycling. And it also shows how local authorities have been able to reduce the costs of disposal. All local authorities in Wales have restricted their residual waste collections in some way. Fortnightly residual waste collection is now the norm and we’ve seen dramatic increases in levels of recycling as a result. Fifteen of our 22 local authorities have made additional changes, for example, by further reducing collection frequency or bin size.

However, we know that more than half of the waste in the black bag can be recycled, and if just half of that were recycled, Wales would then exceed 70 per cent recycling. Welsh Government is supporting WRAP, the WLGA and local authorities across Wales on activities to move us closer towards that 70 per cent target, which we’ve now set for 2025. That support includes: helping councils move towards the blueprint model; investing in improved recycling facilities; further reductions to bin sizes; focusing on the recycling of non-household waste; targeting the small numbers of people who are still not recycling at all; and further reductions to residual waste collections.

We are aware of no evidence linking changes in residual waste collection frequencies to either increased fly-tipping or to impacts on public health. And I should tell Gareth Bennett that incidents of fly-tipping in Wales have reduced by 25 per cent since 2010, despite all of our authorities, as I say, operating some form of residual waste restriction.

With regard to the public health aspects of reduced residual collections in Wales, 99 per cent of households are able to access weekly food waste collections across all Welsh council areas. Some also offer separate collection of other products, such as nappies and incontinence pads. This means that many of the odours historically found in black bin waste are removed. Research shows that when food waste is removed from residual waste, there is little risk of flies or gull and rodent predation.

We’re currently looking at how we might discourage the use of single-use food and drink containers—and I, too, am meeting someone tomorrow, Jenny Rathbone, from a well-known drinks company in the UK—and that includes coffee cups and polystyrene takeaway containers. We’re also considering our approach to deposit-return schemes, and it’s premature to decide on these issues before the work that I’ve commissioned is completed.

As we said, Wales currently leads the way in the UK in recycling. Simon Thomas mentioned good practice and I have to say, when I attended the British-Irish Council meeting in Guernsey on waste—I think it was in November—the other countries were looking to here, to Wales, to see what we were doing to make sure they could embrace our best practice. But of course we aim to be the first, and Wales, I believe, is a world leader in this field, which is something I think we should all be proud of in this Chamber. The people of Wales have risen to the challenge of increasing recycling rates and we are confident of their ability to recycle more. Diolch.