Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The title of my short debate today is ‘The challenges of recycling for businesses and residents in rural Wales.’ I’m going to start my contribution by patting the Government on the back and saying what a good job they’re doing, then I’m going to bring some cases forward that demonstrate that, if we don’t carry on the momentum, things will change. I’m also then going to show a video clip that highlights some of the cases in my own constituency. I’m going to give a minute of my time to Darren Millar, and I should also declare I’m a member of Powys County Council.

So, I will begin by noting that the overall picture for Welsh recycling is a positive one. The Welsh Government’s current waste strategy, ‘Towards Zero Waste’, has set a very ambitious target of 70 per cent recycling by 2014-25 as a whole, and Wales’s recycling rates are already above the 58 per cent statutory recycling target, which was set in 2015-16. So, 19 out of 22 councils reached or exceeded that target, with the exception of outstanding issues in south-east Wales. The Welsh Government’s performance on recycling is largely a record that we in Wales can be proud of. Indeed, the general approach is good, with good, clear targets, proper monitoring and evaluation, so it’s a gold-standard approach, I think, from the Welsh Government, and it’s something that the rest of Europe can learn from and be adopted. So, there we are.

So, a good approach so far. But Wales’s record of recycling is also reflective of a change in attitudes as well across society towards recycling, and this bodes well for the future. However, if we are to meet the Welsh Government’s 70 per cent target by 2025, it is essential that we keep up the momentum by providing innovative solutions to increase recycling rates whilst reducing the barriers of recycling, and that’s what I’m coming on to—the barriers of recycling. So, I’m therefore concerned that local authorities across Wales are curtailing both residential and commercial waste collections, largely as cost-cutting exercises, without providing the facilities to enable residents and businesses to increase their rates of recycling. So, we must ensure that waste management policies, such as the move to three-weekly collections, do not have unintended consequences in terms of increasing environmental crime such as fly-tipping, and ensure that Wales continues to be a European leader in recycling. So, for example, local authorities such as my own in Powys have moved to a three-weekly residual waste collection and, in some respects, are creating unnecessary barriers for residents and businesses when it comes to encouraging recycling. Indeed, I fear that current policies, unless addressed, will have an adverse effect on recycling rates in the county.

I would now like to show a short video that illustrates some of the challenges that business owners and residents are currently facing. It’s just a couple of minutes, and then I will explore each of the cases. I will now ask for the video to be shown.