The 'Food Producers Fund' has been launched to help drive down costs for rural businesses whilst increasing recycling, energy recovery and maximising value from waste.
The Scottish Conservatives have launched the fund, which will redirect unspent money from the existing Circular Economy Investment Fund to support farmers and rural communities.
The new Food Producers Fund hopes to drive down costs for rural businesses whilst increasing recycling, energy recovery and maximising value from waste.
The fund has allocated approximately £5 million so far even though the total funding available to small and medium sized businesses is £18 million.
It will focus on on-site anaerobic digestion to help farmers with the costs to establish facilities in order to produce energy and heat and the creation of localised 'waste hubs' to act as an access point for farmers, aiming to reduce and provide an alternative option for farmers banned from burning plastic as of January 2019.
The fund will also provide funding for equipment to make farms more environmentally friendly and efficient and position micro plastic-recycling facilities across rural areas which will reduce costs for rural communities.
Maurice Golden, Scottish Conservative shadow environment secretary said: “The SNP is on course to miss key recycling targets and has spectacularly failed to substantially increase the amount of waste Scotland is recycling.
“Indeed, the SNP ban on plastic incineration will leave farmers, particularly those in rural communities, with very few viable options for recycling.
“The Scottish Conservative plan would remove the barriers to recycling that many farmers and rural communities face.”
He added: “Simply put, our plan would work with farmers and communities to enable them to recycle and reduce waste; that’s good for all of us.”
Burning farm plastics and most types of agricultural waste will not be allowed in Scotland under exemption from 1 January 2019.
