In the second half of the twentieth century, we became a throwaway society. My grandmother, who was born in the nineteenth century, and lived with an unemployed husband during the 1930s, was often horrified by the general wastefulness of society at that time—items that were working, and nothing wrong them, often thrown away and taken to landfill because they had been replaced. Sometimes, something would go out of fashion and be sent via the refuse collection service to the local landfill site—not that there was anything wrong with it, just no longer fashionable. It can be identified as the time the refuse collection service stopped being called the ash carts, because they used to collect ash from coal fires, and just started dealing with large quantities of refuse.

I also remember deposits being charged on pop bottles. It’s amazing how a few pennies can affect behaviour. The plastic bag levy: it might only be 5p, but it’s had a massive effect on behaviour. No longer do you see plastic bags blowing in large numbers across parks and sports pitches, and I believe that a return to a deposit on bottles would have exactly the same effect on recycling. Wales has made huge strides in recycling over recent years. It is the leading UK nation in terms of municipal recycling—thank you, local authorities—currently third in the world. More, however, can be done.

First, I’m going to turn to metals. All metals should be and can be recycled. I’m sure that, however, metals including gold and rare earths are finding their way into landfill in Wales. Rapid technology change, low initial cost—