Missmanagement Practice

<p><strong>Part of D1.6, chapter 2.1</strong></p> <p>Agricultural plastics (APs) offer multiple benefits to agricultural production in support of sustainable agriculture. According to &ldquo;Plastics Europe&rdquo; the &ldquo;Agriculture, Farming and Gardening&rdquo; sector had a share of 4% of the global plastics market in 2021, amounting to 15.6 Mt. &nbsp;The corresponding demand of the European plastics converters for this sector reached 1.6 Mt in 2021. A major negative consequence of the large amounts of AP used is the generation of huge quantities of APW estimated at 1 Mt in 2013. Half of this amount was used in protected cultivations (greenhouses and tunnels, films, mulching films, etc.). Apart from the estimations based on various sources and periods, no official statistical data are recorded yet for AP and APW in Europe.<br>The management of huge volumes of APW is very difficult both, in technical and financial terms. Only a small percentage of this waste is recycled [ ]. &nbsp;In many agricultural regions, at the international level, mismanagement and illegal practices are common, with large quantities of APW disposed of, buried, or burnt uncontrollably in the fields by the farmers, with significant negative environmental impact.&nbsp;<br>The consequences of the mismanagement of APW may be briefly described as follows.<br>Disposal of APW in the fields and landfills:&nbsp;<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Aesthetic pollution and landscape degradation of regions of natural beauty and touristic areas,&nbsp;<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Threat to domestic and wild animals,&nbsp;<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Blocking of water flow through water channels,&nbsp;<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Overload of landfills with an immediate environmental and financial impact.<br>Burying of APW in the fields:&nbsp;<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Degradation of soil quality characteristics, Irreversible soil contamination&nbsp;<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Possible danger for the safety and quality of the food produced in such fields.&nbsp;</p> <p>Burning of APW in the fields:<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Release of harmful airborne toxic substances, including dioxins, with negative consequences to human health and the environment<br>⁻ &nbsp; &nbsp;Possible danger for the safety of the food produced.<br>The European legal framework forbids the uncontrolled burning, the uncontrolled burying of the plastics waste and the uncontrolled discarding of plastics waste. In accordance with the &lsquo;polluter pays&rsquo; principle, the cost of management of waste must be borne by the holder who has waste handled by a waste collector or by an undertaking contractor and/or the previous holders or the producer of the product from which the waste came.<br>However, no European legislation exists specifically for APW. In many EU regions the general rules imposed by the waste Directives are not implemented in the case of APW while there is no control on quality and fate of collected APW. There are of course exceptions, like the Adivalor system in France, with a successful management of several categories of AP (e.g., through organized collection and recycling).<br>Some characteristic examples of mismanaged of selected AP categories in Greece are shown as follows: APW abandoned, buried, or burnt in the fields, especially those in contact with soil (e.g., mulching films). &nbsp;The remains of the mismanaged AP products are gradually fragmented with time and may become sources of soil pollution by MNP.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>