Agricultural Plastic Waste Management
ANTONIO PRATELLI, PATRIZIA CINELLI, MAURIZIA SEGGIANI, GIOVANNA STRANGIS,
MASSIMILIANO PETRI
Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering,
College of Engineering, University of Pisa,
Largo Lucio Lazzarino 2, 56122, Pisa,
ITALY
Abstract: - This article aims at describing both the studies and results implemented in the framework of the
H2020-EU research project “RECOVER: New bio-recycling routes for food packaging and agricultural plastic
waste” which deals with the sustainability of innovative biodegradation processes for plastic waste and
production, in any environmental, social, economic and safety matters. In such a framework, the POLOG
University Centre (Livorno, Italy), reconstructed and analyzed the actual farm plastic waste supply chain, as
described in the following sections. The first section is introductive and it has been intended as a primer to the
most common different types of plastic materials. The second section has deserved to be a state of the art on the
most relevant issues raised in plastic waste management. The third section deals with suitable approaches to
address the environmental side effects of rapidly growing plastics production, use, and disposal. Some of these
approaches were listed, such as physical treatment of the polymeric components, plastic reduction use and
employment as much as mechanical and/or chemical recycling and energy recovery. The fourth section shows
how some of the above main issues, which raise coping with plastic reduction and recycling, are suited to be
coped with from a logistics perspective. Such logistics belong to the basic needs due to tackling any plastic
waste supply chain, i.e. collection and transport to intermediate stock and final delivery to recycling plants
and/or brownfields, applying the set of methodologies and techniques drawn from the well-known field of pick-
up-and-delivery models. These last tasks become crucial when the main effort has addressed the enforcement of
any feasible changes from the use of items made in old high environmental intrusive to their replacement with
new agricultural and biodegradable plastics. The paper goes to end presenting shortly of a few suitable
solutions that could be proposed and applied to the entire plastic waste supply chain. Finally, some concrete
aspects of each phase of the supply chain were discussed and it was highlighted how much each of these can be
best used in addressing the problem known throughout the world as the problem of the emergency of old plastic
waste.
Keywords: - Plastic pollution and sustainability, Plastic waste recycling, management and collection logistics,
Agriculture field, plastic waste biodegradability.
Received: May 25, 2022. Revised: October 26, 2022. Accepted: November 28, 2022. Published: December 31, 2022.
1 Introduction
As well known, the global production of petroleum-
based plastics keeps increasing in particular for low-
cost, single-use applications, due to plastic strength,
lightweight, and versatility, [1]. Petroleum-based
plastic is diffused in a wide range of applications
from the medical, and industrial fields, to domestic,
packaging and agriculture, becoming an
indispensable presence in our lives. In 2020 global
plastic production was estimated at 367 million tons
of plastics, of which 40.5% was used for packaging
applications. In spite of most plastic used in
packaging, being potentially recyclable, just about
34% of plastic waste was recycled, while over 23%
was still released into landfills or natural
environments, especially in the oceans, where 13
million tons of plastic have been estimated, [2].
Thus the undiscussed industrial and social benefits
of plastics conflict with the concern for
accumulation into the land and seas inducing very
negative impacts on wildlife and human health, [3],
[4], [5]. This article analyses the environmental
sustainability of plastics in food packaging and
agriculture, focusing on the main non-biodegradable
plastic materials used on farms as plastic covers and
mulching film.
It was estimated that about 40,000 km2 of
European farmlands are covered by plastic films.
The agricultural plastics are mainly produced using
synthetic petroleum-based non compostable
polymers, while the supply of bio-based plastics
remained low, due to the relative high cost of these
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DOI: 10.37394/232015.2022.18.124
Antonio Pratelli, Patrizia Cinelli,
Maurizia Seggiani, Giovanna Strangis,
Massimiliano Petri
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last materials, [6]. The main plastics used in
agriculture are low-density polyethylene (LDPE),
linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl
chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene
(PET). The disadvantage of these materials is their
production process, which generates significant
amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere causing global
warming. Plastic recycling is currently the most
widely used technique to minimize these impacts
since it allows saving resources and consequently
reducing carbon emissions and the amount of waste
to be disposed of, [7] , [8]. In the life cycle of a
plastic, including production, use and disposal we
can identify several steps. Firstly, each supplier
provides the raw material. Then the supplier
processes the raw materials until they are ready for
use. The supplier then provides to not only the
plastics industry but also other industries that use
plastic as raw materials for their products such as
for example farms. Considering the process of
plastic production from upstream to downstream,
the whole system consists of several interrelated
subsystems, listed below:
a) Primary raw material subsystem which is
mainly resources from petroleum.
b) Production process subsystem which is
making and processing plastics.
c) Plastic waste management subsystem which
is collecting and transporting plastic waste
and the final disposal process.
d) Plastic recycling subsystem which collects
plastic waste that can be recycled by plastic
waste collectors, sorting of plastic types,
plastic milling, plastic washing, and drying
of plastic debris which is then sent to plastic
factories as secondary raw materials.
2 Plastic Waste Management: A Brief
State of the Art
Plastic waste not treated properly refers to plastic
often disposed of directly, without being processed.
This can disrupt the environment such as the marine
ecosystem. The reasons why people dispose of
plastic waste directly are because the process to
handle plastic waste is difficult and takes time. By
the way, recycled plastic accounts for a percentage
of 5% of the total production and receives the
recycled plastic directly, from the production cycle,
operating a real reverse logistic chain.
Fig. 1: Plastic Supply Chain.
Various methods have been used to deal with the
issue of plastic waste such as the implementation of
the so-called “4R” principle (Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle, as well Refuse), but there are
complications that come with each method. Many
studies investigated the difficulties for plastic
recycling. For example, Mariotti and co-workers,
[9], analyzed the material and money flows, the
study of plastic materials and the examination of the
normative led to the identification of relevant key
barriers.
In the agricultural field, plastics is delivered from
the industry to farms through wholesalers and
retailers as shown in Fig.1; after use, packaging,
mulching films and other plastic products will
become a waste. The waste is picked up by plastic
waste collector devices and vehicles, then it is
carried to plastic recycling plants or stored in some
waste disposal sites. After that, the plastic can be
processed and recycled. Fig.1 also shows the
RECOVER project partners belonging to different
agricultural plastic supply chain nodes.
In order to get a better understanding of the
actual operations in farm plastic waste supply chain,
the POLOG - Logistic Center of the University of
Pisa (Livorno, It.) has implemented an on-line
survey (https://survey.tages.it/recover/) in six
different languages (English, Italian, French,
German, Portuguese, and Spanish). The
questionnaire has four different versions for
different supply chain nodes like plastic
manufacturers, waste treatment companies,
distribution/warehousing companies and farms.
Fig.2 shows the first two pages of the survey. At
present, only 13 companies have completed the
survey, divided in types as indicated in Fig.3.
Starting from the manufacturers, the three
respondent companies are very different in
dimensions: one has seven hundred employees
while the other two sixty-three and ten employees.
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Only the biggest one makes products containing
recycled plastic for a percentage of 5% on the total
production and receive the recycled plastic directly
from the production cycle, operating a real reverse
logistic chain.
An important feature regarding manufacturers is
that all of them address as limiting parameters to
recycle AWP (Agricultural Waste Plastic) are
production cost, price inflation of bio-based raw
materials and the presence of mixed fractions. It is
clear that manufacturing companies must have
incentives to use recycled plastics in their
manufacturing processes. In this way, they can
create both marketing and advertising advantages
and can even allow a small surcharge if the final
product can be sold as "green". Nevertheless, many
manufacturers continue to rely solely on virgin
plastic inputs, both because of their lower cost, but
also due to inertia and uncertainty about the
properties of recycled plastics, [10].
Fig. 2: First two pages of on-line survey.
Farms underline that AWPs are generally not
mixed with other products and they are sent to
mechanical/chemical recycling or incineration. The
AWP production capacity goes from 100 to 1000
kg/year. They also said that there is no financial
compensation for farmers who remove and manage
their plastic waste. Of the three companies
interviewed, only one recycles plastic waste with
the following order of costs (highlow): LLDPE,
LDPE, PS, PET.
Moreover, for farms, the use of biodegradation
systems, creating spaces for plastic recycling by
microorganisms, has a higher cost than transporting
AWP to a landfill or petrochemical plant (also if
they know it decreases environmental footprint).
Usually, in each farm AWP are collected in
dedicated containers and the farm does not use their
trucks but third-party transport services, with a
mean shipping of a container between 1/week to
1/quarter.
Production of AWP increases in summer,
especially for the citrus harvest phase.
Usually, in each farm AWP are collected in
dedicated containers and the farm does not use their
trucks but third-party transport services, with a
mean shipping of a container between 1/week to
1/quarter. Production of AWP increases in summer,
especially for the citrus harvest phase.
Fig. 3: Survey respondents by company type.
3 Possible Solutions
Several approaches have been proposed and are
under consideration to address the environmental
side effects of rapidly growing plastics production,
use, and disposal, [12]. They include modifying the
product design, lowering plastic amount such as
through product light-weighting, and introducing
alternative materials in the place of plastics, this
could reduce the production, use, and disposal of
plastics. The adverse environmental impacts
derived from petro-plastic may be reduced even
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shifting to biobased or biodegradable plastics thus
reducing their environmental footprint, [13].
Improved management of the waste
systems, by facilitating waste collection
and increasing the recycling rates, would
allow waste plastics being captured before
they may be directed to the natural
environment.
Clean up and remediation activities, such
as beach cleaning and technology to collect
plastic from the oceans, would allow the
removal of plastic already present in the
natural environment, and get people more
aware of plastic pollution
Improvement of the plastic waste
treatment, improving quality of recycled
plastic, and consequently increasing
recycling rate.
The most used solution is the waste treatment
process, based on the physical properties of the
polymeric material of the plastic. Indeed, polymeric
materials can be classified as thermoplastics and
thermosets. Thermoplastic is a type of plastic that
can be processed, and thus even recycled by re-
melting process. Plastics that are classified into
thermoplastics include polyethylene (PE),
polystyrene (PS), poly vinyl chloride (PVC),
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and
polycarbonate (PC). While thermoset is a type of
plastic that cannot be remolded because during
overheating, thermosets tend to degrade without
melting. Table 1 displays some of the most
common usage thermosets items including epoxy
resins, Bakelite, melamine resins, and urea-
formaldehyde resins. Reduction of plastic waste
can be achieved in four different ways:
1) Reduction in use.
2) Disposal and degradation by
landfilling/incineration.
3) Reuse.
4) Recycle.
Reduction in use means limiting the use of plastic
either by replacing plastic with other materials or
changing material design in order to have a lighter
product. Degradation is the process of damaging
plastic structure that can be done by incineration
with energy recovery, or by disposal in landfills
where some plastic may incur in degradation,
eventually by anaerobic digestion with production
of biogas.
Reuse is the approach of reusing plastic that has
used before. Recycling may be chemical,
mechanical, etc.; in this process the plastic waste
can be processed to be used again, or chemically
treated to go back to monomers or other chemical
blocks that can be used for producing the same
plastic, but even different chemicals. In terms of
plastic waste, the recycling process for solid
plastics waste types is generally done in three
ways: mechanical recycling, chemical recycling,
and energy recovery.
Table 1. Manufacturer product types,
characteristics and dimensions.
Company
Product type
Dimensions
LCI Italy
Pot
14 x 20 x 20
cm
TIPA
Corp.
Compostable
Films
180-250 cm
Bio-Mi
d.o.o
Biodegradable
mulch films
100-120 cm
Castellani
s.p.a.
Packaging
100 x 120 x
170 cm
Mechanical recycling consists in separating,
sorting, baling, washing, grinding, compounding,
and pelletizing, [14]. This recycling process can be
configured using closed and open loops where the
application can provide a different final version of
the recycled product. The closed-loop process will
produce products that have properties similar to the
original material, so they can be used as raw
materials with high-additional value. A common
problem associated with mechanical recycling is
the degradation and mixing of polymers leading to
loss of the characteristics that made the initial pre-
recycled polymer desirable [11]. As the plastic
qualities are degraded through the recycling
process, some may not be able to be returned as
input to new plastics, and are used to create less
valuable, limited application, plastic products, [15].
Some of the current instances are:
- Park benches.
- Plastic lumber poles for gardens.
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- Drainage pipes.
- Carpets.
- Railroad ties.
- Truck bed liners.
- Plastic roads.
The chemical recycling consists in the following
steps:
Step 1) Chemical depolymerization: it is a chemical
process by which the plastic waste is chemically
reduced to its original monomers or other
chemicals. It is suitable only for homogenous pre-
sorted plastic waste streams such as PET, PU, PA,
PLA, PC, PHA, and PEF. Chemical recycling can
be done by chemolysis, pyrolysis, fluid catalytic
cracking (FCC), hydrogen technologies,
Katalytische Drucklose Verölung (KDV) process or
Catalytic Pressureless Depolymerization process,
and gasification combined with methanol
production.
Step 2) Solvent-based regeneration: it is a
purification process based on dissolving polymers
in proprietary solvents, separating contaminants
and reconstituting the target polymer. The process
can be applied to several polymers.
Step 3) Thermal depolymerization and cracking
(gasification and pyrolysis): These processes heat
plastic waste in a low-oxygen environment to
produce molecules from mixed streams of
monomers that then form the basis of feedstock for
new plastic without degradation. The main output
is syngas or synthesis gas, [16]. Both gasification
and pyrolysis have been considered for decades to
create energy (syngas burned to drive steam
turbines) from municipal waste that didn’t get a
commercial success due to a combination of poor
economics, high energy consumption requiring
supplemental fuel, fires, explosions, emissions, and
residues. These processes are also used to create
‘plastic to fuels’ (fossil fuels), as oils and diesel can
be generated in addition to syngas. Most recently
biotechnology has been considered for plastic
degradation and waste management, thus the
depolymerization using enzymes, or bacteria is a
technique still at an experimental and research
stage. One if the studied techniques for example
uses a bacterial hydrolase enzyme to reduce PET to
its monomer, [17]. The bacterial enzyme is based
on a naturally occurring bacteria that has
subsequently been modified by scientists to
degrade PET more efficiently, claiming a 90%
depolymerization within 10 hours. More and more
examples of use of enzymes, bacteria but even
worms, insects and larvae for degradation of plastic
can be found in the literature evidencing the trend
for looking to natural, green chemistry,
biotechnological approaches for the plastic waste
treatment.
The last approach, we address is valorizing the
plastic waste for energy recovery, this is conducted
by burning plastic waste for electricity production,
this process reports an efficiency above 90%, [18].
The process is proposed for plastic waste that
cannot be recycled, but considering the need for
energy is widely applied even to recyclable plastic.
Main concern for incineration is the management of
ashes and air emissions making it difficult to get
population acceptance of an incineration plant
nearby. Most recent treatments consider the
transformation of plastic to fuels that might
‘substitute’ fossil fuels and offset oil, gas, and coal.
By the way the process still needs investigation and
upgrades, not to result in just compressed post
consuming plastic. One promising approach of this
process is the conversion of plastic waste to
hydrogen, which is a clean burning fuel. However,
to date, hydrogen production may require energy-
intensive processes that could even compromise the
benefits of reducing the carbon footprint.
3.1 Logistic and Distribution Solutions
Solutions must be studied starting from the entire
plastic waste production chain and researching how
each node in the supply chain can give its own help
to solve the problem. For example, industries are
expected to work together by creating and
implementing a plastic waste management system
using a reverse logistics system where plastic waste
is returned to the factories that produce it.
Afterwards, factories will manage the plastic waste
by recycling and reusing them. Reverse logistics is
the process of planning, implementing, and
controlling the flow of raw materials, work in
process, finished goods, and related information,
which flows from the point of consumption to the
point of origin efficiently, [19]. Logistics generally
bring products to customers.
Reverse logistics is the opposite of the previous
process, where the product or goods are brought
from the customer to the distributor, or to the
manufacturer, which includes reprocessing or
disposal. The transfer of the product or item is
carried out through a supply chain network, like the
one shown in previous Fig. 2. Another way to
manage plastic waste is to optimize the plastics
packaging supply chain. The plastics packaging
value chain starts along with the production and
continues with the distribution and utilization. On
the left side, indeed, there is the Plastics Packaging
Recovering Chain i.e., the packaging producers, the
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product companies, and the retailers who produce
the packaging, the products and sell them to the
consumers. On the right side, instead, the Plastic
Waste Recovering Chain is represented. The
recycling process takes place in different phases: (i)
the separate collection of waste (citizen); (ii) the
collection of separated waste from a company
(public or private) and the pre-sorting and cleaning
of plastics; (iii) the sorting of different plastics and,
(iv) the recycling, i.e., the sorted plastics are
processed in order to have materials suitable for a
new use. Appropriate handling, treatment, and
disposal of waste by type reduces costs and
contributes significantly to protecting public health
[20]. Segregation is another important element of
the waste management supply chain, and it should
always be the responsibility of the waste producer,
should take place as close as possible to where the
waste is generated, and should be maintained in
storage areas. The same system of segregation
should be in force throughout the country. From
the segregation it starts the waste logistic and
transport phase. Segregation is followed by the
Collection/ Storage phase that can be linked also to
new ways to optimize distribution. For example,
waste containers can be implemented with
volumetric or weight sensors so as to be able to
have a clear communication to distribution
companies about available capacity so as to
optimize waste recovery according to vehicle
capacity. Moreover, the storage can be followed by
a Special Packaging phase, depending on the
measure and volume of the waste. It can be useful
to package waste following the standard
dimensions used in transportation like pallet
dimensions or other systems, so also to optimize
the following Transportation/Distribution phase.
For this last part it can be useful to have a Routing
optimization system to decrease the transportation
distance and time (especially for perishable
products). This system can be linked to the
municipal road management system in order to
avoid road congestion and other critical features.
3.2 GIS Models and Optimal Management
of Large Bioplastic Waste Collection
Distribution logistics is a cost element that should
not be underrated in any process chain. For this
reason, its optimization becomes an indispensable
element to reduce the costs of the supply chain
itself. In this regard, a series of heuristic algorithms
have been able to solve the so-called Traveling
Salesman Problem-TSP, or better Vehicle Routing
Problem due to capacity and time constraints,
elaborated and solved by a set of programming
procedures belonging to Branch & Bound, Greedy
or Patching methods. These algorithms can be
applied both in the ex-post phase, i.e., on-time
distribution of constraints and customers, as much
as in real time by receiving reservations for
deliveries/collections that vary over time.
Compared to the latter example, the case of plastic
recycling introduces an extension based on the use
of radio frequency communication-active RFID. In
practice, it is a question of equipping each
container or bin, deriving from the sorting of
recycled plastic with an activated/sensor, possibly
connected to a volumetric filling and/or weight
sensor. The RFID sensor communicates exposure
data of web cloud volume and/or weight value via
web to allow the operator in charge of its
withdrawal to know the places of real exposure of
the plastic materials and their volumetric
characteristics and/or weight. Such a result has
been offered by some commercial packages. For
instance, one among others is ArcGISTM, which
belongs to the popular real-time software engine of
ESRI's ArcGISTM software, [21]. ArcGISTM
operates in real time by setting up the
corresponding Vehicle Routing problem, together
with all path and capacity constraints, as much as
time windows constraints, if any, or any other kind
of constraints that must be included into the model
representation of real world operational conditions
in order to allow for effective optimization. The
result is an optimized vehicle delivery tour, in
respect to its costs and delivery times, which is to
be followed by the vehicle driver, or sent directly to
an autonomous vehicle driving control device, [22].
Fig. 4: Volvo autonomous refuse truck automated
vehicle (courtesy by [20]).
As a practical example in such a direction, a few
years ago, Volvo Automotive Group presented an
autonomous refuse truck (Fig. 4) which is an
automated vehicle and it is equipped with sensors
that continuously monitor the vehicle’s path. This
last is pre-set up and the truck drives itself from
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one wheelie-bin to the next. Then the driver walks
ahead of the reversing vehicle, and he is only
focused on refuse collection. This way, the driver
does not have to climb into and out of the cab every
time the truck moves to a new bin.
Fig. 5: The waste collection process through GIS
coupled with RFID sensor technologies, [21].
From the point of view of methodology, the
application of a GIS has addressed the core of the
control and management system of the vehicle
fleet. The main tasks are rooted in the optimal
definition of the transport of plastic and solid waste
from the individual collection points (pick-up
nodes) to the plant, or more, for delivery and
storage, allowing you to identify, vehicle by
vehicle, the path of minimum cost/distance. The
GIS model considers the capacity of the vehicles
used, gets information on the road network
available, dynamically updates the storage
availability of the treatment plant, and at the same
time interrogates the sensors at the collection points
to plan collection trips based on actual needs. For
this last aspect, in the specific case of plastic
collection from large users, it is possible to place in
each of them a removable instrumented container
with volumetric measurement of the filling level.
When the sensor requests collection, the equipped
vehicle picks it up leaving an empty one in its
place: one trip and two services. Fig.5 depicts the
waste collection process. In the past decade, the
applications of GIS systems in the waste collection
sector have reached, almost all over the world,
compared to the cost of the previous traditional
methods of managing the collection and storage
service. Roughly speaking, the expected savings
range from 25% up to 50%. More in detail, the
technical literature report estimations are about
20% less than the annual mileage, and 30% and
above for the collection times. These savings also
translate into environmental benefits, such as
corresponding in mileage shortages and then
reduced tons of CO2 emissions per year.
Acknowledgements:
This research work has been developed under the
project RECOVER "New bio-recycling routes for
food packaging and agricultural plastic waste". The
project was founded by Bio Based Industries Joint
Undertaking and framed into the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation program
under grant agreement No. 887648.
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(Attribution 4.0 International, CC BY 4.0)
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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT
DOI: 10.37394/232015.2022.18.124
Antonio Pratelli, Patrizia Cinelli,
Maurizia Seggiani, Giovanna Strangis,
Massimiliano Petri
E-ISSN: 2224-3496
1319
Volume 18, 2022