Mr. Joseph Cummins:

We work quite closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on the circular economy plan and the bioeconomy plan. The food sector is clearly a focus of both those plans and Enterprise Ireland works directly with our large foods sector in terms of engaging on that, in particular, the bioeconomy plan. On the circular economy side, we engage through the manufacturing centre on CIRCULÉIRE, which has industry-focused engagements.

I refer to a set of activities that engage industry in a detailed assessment of supply chains, production processes and waste production and introduce circularity into business models. As a way of getting engagement, it has been extremely effective. This is because, essentially, it meets businesses where they are, looks at their operations on site and talks not in general terms about circularity but looks at specific products, biowastes, that can be reused in an enterprise. That is the right model. We need to build on it now to ensure there is better engagement right through the supply chain.