Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 5 July 2022.
Thank you, First Minister. As you have mentioned, this programme has been quite successful in helping deliver carbon reductions through the use of anaerobic digestion facilities as an alternative for food waste treatment. I'm also aware that, although modest, the anaerobic digestion facilities create jobs, both in building and running facilities, and have the ability to supply farmers with cheaper, more sustainable fertiliser at a time when the price of non-organic, fossil fuel-based fertilisers is rapidly increasing. With this in mind, I'm wondering what capacity has been identified to expand the use of anaerobic digestion by local authorities for the purpose of processing food waste both in Wales and, potentially, along the English-Welsh border. Secondly, since anaerobic digestion facilities do contribute to the creation of new circular economies in the countryside and that there remains a persistence of high-carbon energy systems in remote rural areas, which AD could help reform, how can the waste infrastructure procurement programme be replicated or reformed to help deliver, through AD, a reduction in carbon emissions in rural areas? Thank you.