Thank you for allowing me to take part. I don’t want to repeat anything that’s already been said, so I want to focus my contribution to today’s debate on the different methods of waste collection. There are three main types. The method advocated by the Welsh Government in its collection blueprint is kerbside sort. That involves the users sorting the dry recyclable waste into different materials at the points at which it will be collected.

At the opposite end of the scale, there is another method called co-mingling, where all the dry recyclable materials are collected into a single container or bag and sorted at the materials recovery facility. The problem is that the co-mingled waste collection method often results in a higher rate of rejected recyclable waste due to cross-contamination. There are pros and cons of course for each method. I’m also very aware that where kerbside sort has been introduced, it has been met with some strong opposition and also some lower rates of recycling. I do recognise also that this sort of kerbside sorting won’t suit everybody—that there are people in flats, that there are people who are frail and vulnerable—and that there might be some difficulties that could be addressed by local authorities playing their part and finding solutions for those families. We’ve heard some of those issues here today. I believe that having an all-Wales waste collection method could help alleviate the confusion that we’ve been talking about here today with these multiple methods, and create a single understanding of what is to be recycled.

I also recognise that in order to achieve a circular economy in Wales we do need to utilise as much as possible of the recyclable material collected in Wales, and municipal waste has an important role to play in that part. In order to achieve the 70 per cent recycling target by 2025, the collection blueprint recommends the collection of other waste for recycling from the kerbside, for example, of textiles, shoes and other non-packaging material that nobody has mentioned here today. I wonder, Cabinet Secretary, whether you will ask your colleague, when she returns, whether she might consider that.

Another issue that I want to raise today is the issue of bulk waste disposal licensing. I know that, very often, householders will call people because they’ve heard that they will get rid of their waste, and they will do it cheaper, sometimes, than those others who have licences. I think there’s a big issue here. I don’t think that people realise that there is such a scheme. I think they do this in ignorance of that scheme. Of course, the waste that’s collected for £2 or £3 finds itself at the end of perhaps their street or not very far away.

The other issue I want to bring, because I’m staggered today to hear that Cardiff council collects bulk waste for nothing. In Pembrokeshire it’s £40. You can, of course, recycle up to 10 items, if you like, but I don’t know many people that have got that many items. The £40 minimum charge is, in my opinion, an outrageous charge, and it’s certainly going to add into, probably, the prospect of fly-tipping.