AN officer from Monmouthshire Council is to join a trip to France to look at recycling technology.

The trip to Rennes in western France later this month is to study anaerobic digestion – a method where material is broken down by bacteria in oxygen-free conditions.

The study tour comes just weeks after the council was ended its contract with the Caerwent-based company that was dealing with its green waste.

The trip to four plants in the Rennes area is being organised by the Forest of Dean-based Severn Wye Energy Agency.

It will look at the use of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of waste to generate biogas which can be used as a fuel.

The small-scale plants use animal slurry as a source for biogas and, the council says, given the importance of the agricultural industry to the county, it is a technology that needs to be understood.

The trip is being funded by grants from the Biomethane Regions organization and the National Endowment for Science and the Arts (NESTA).