1. Will the First Minister make a statement on measures to improve recycling rates in Wales? OAQ54411

Wales has the third-highest household waste recycling rate in the world. We are taking steps to further improve recycling rates through behaviour change initiatives, and through developing new infrastructure for more material to be recycled. We're working closely with our local authority partners and supporting with targeted funding.

I thank you very much for that answer, Minister. The Welsh Government do have a proven track record, as you say, of taking this issue quite seriously, with Wales being global leaders in that recycling. And that's something, I think, that we all need to be extremely proud of. And I'm pleased to hear about their ongoing commitment to further improving recycling rates and working towards a zero-waste Wales. Some communities, individuals and businesses are taking it seriously, and that's only a good thing. There's been a real shift in awareness in recent years. What I would like to see, and I'm sure we all would, is a reduction in the amount of material that we need to recycle in the first place, particularly when it comes to single-use plastic. Much of that plastic is completely unnecessary, and, in terms of material that can't be recycled, 80 per cent of it is still plastic. 

So, I would like to know what actions the Welsh Government are taking to reduce the use of single-use plastic, in whatever form it is, particularly those materials that, at the moment, we cannot recycle at all. 

I thank Joyce Watson, and she's quite right that we should be extremely proud of what we have achieved here in Wales. And we are very much a global leader; countries across the world are looking to us for an example of what can be done, because, of course, since devolution, our household waste recycling rate has increased from just 5.2 per cent to 61 per cent, and it's the third highest in the world. But, clearly, there's no room for complacency and we can do much more. Joyce Watson raised the importance of ensuring that businesses also play their part, and the Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government has launched a consultation on business recycling. This will seek to see whether we can have businesses separating and recycling their waste in the same way that we already do at home.

And that issue of banning certain single-use plastics is extremely important, and the deputy Minister has also signalled that she's keen to introduce legislation to ban a number of single-use plastic items, and they include cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers, balloon sticks and cups. I know that Joyce Watson is a big supporter of beach cleans, and many of those items will be frequent culprits, I think, when we do our beach cleans. 

Minister, in April the Government brought forward the circular economy fund—a £6.5 million fund. Two windows for the small grant element of that fund have now closed, and the one window for the larger grant has just finished. Are you in a position to give us an update on how those grants have been—. Have they been successful in the uptake that the industry and consumers have taken on board? I appreciate you can't give us exact numbers, and I'd be grateful if you could put that on the record at a later date, but can you give us an overall impression of how those grant opportunities have been taken up by people across Wales?

Yes, there's been huge interest in the circular economy fund, and, of course, it's a £6.5 million fund focused on stimulating demand and use for recycled material. The successful businesses will be committed to taking on board our particular focus on getting to the point where we are a zero-waste nation. I know that the Minister will be making a statement shortly on the circular economy fund.