Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Russell George, for bringing this subject forward for debate today. I think as you said in your opening remarks, we really have set our course as a leader in recycling and waste management. We’ve got the highest in the UK, and the fourth highest in Europe. I believe that our ambitions and our targets really will take us to first place in Europe and then, I think, the world, during the next few years.

But I think also we must pay tribute to the public. You said that we really have taken the public with us on this journey, and our recycling targets have been reached because of the way the public have embraced it. I think I said it in the debate we had yesterday—it is now second nature to so many people in Wales.

So, whilst I do agree there are challenges for businesses and residents in rural Wales, I think there are also opportunities as well. Rural authorities such as Powys do of course have specific challenges, and the distances, as you’ve mentioned, of rural collection rounds are larger, and facilities such as household waste and recycling centres are often further away for residents than in our more urban authorities. But I think we do need to be very careful how we characterise our local authorities. There are some city and Valleys authorities with rural areas, whilst many rural authorities have sizeable towns. I think local authorities have to take these factors into consideration when they’re planning and designing and delivering the services to businesses and residents. I think it’s really important—and again, you referred to this—that barriers aren’t put up for people.

I also think that rural authorities here in Wales have managed these challenges very well. Last year, Wales achieved a 60.2 per cent municipal recycling rate. If you drill down into those figures and look at the specific authorities, rural authorities achieved an average of 62 per cent; Valleys authorities reached 59.3 per cent; and urban authorities 59 per cent. Some local authorities have consulted on reducing the number of household waste and recycling centres they provide, and I know some sites have closed. I think it’s also important that, when local authorities are looking at whether they should close a site, or even open a site, they need to look at what supermarkets are offering with these very good bring sites for material—banks, for instance—and good kerbside collections, too.

Powys County Council covers a quarter of the area of Wales, so you can see just how large it is, and they have many sparsely populated areas where the provision of services, I know, can be a challenge. But I am advised that, despite these challenges, Powys is making—[Interruption.] Yes.