The Management of Agriculture Plastic Waste in the Framework of Circular Economy. Case of the Almeria Greenhouse (Spain)

Segura, Emilio Abad; Ureña, Luis Jesús Belmonte; Camacho‐Ferre, Francisco; Tello‐Marquina, Julio César

doi:10.3390/ijerph182212042

Cited by 22 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…The top five countries driving this productivity are Spain, Italy, China, the United States, and Germany. These observations align with the notion that Europe is a pioneer in protected or intensive greenhouse agriculture, boasting over 43% of the world's greenhouse area [140,141]. Spain, France, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands stand out with the largest areas of protected cultivation, with Spain leading at 71,783 hectares, notably concen-trated in agricultural regions such as Almeria province [142,143].…”

Section: Bibliometric Overview Of Lca In Protected Agriculturesupporting

confidence: 68%

Life Cycle Assessment in Protected Agriculture: Where Are We Now, and Where Should We Go Next?

Villagrán,

Romero-Perdomo,

Numa-Vergel

et al. 2023

Horticulturae

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Researchers and practitioners use life cycle assessment (LCA) as a powerful tool to thoroughly assess the environmental impact of protected agriculture. However, the literature in this field has shown heterogeneity, which is characterized by inconsistent methodologies and assumptions. Identifying prevailing trends and resolving existing limitations is necessary to generate robust results and guide future work. Here, we conduct a bibliometric and systematic review to explore how LCA applications have addressed protected agriculture. The bibliometric analysis unveils trends in scientific productivity, spanning temporal evolution and geographic distribution, while also identifying prominent research avenues. The systematic review traces the historical trajectory of agricultural LCA and scrutinizes methodological decisions across the standard LCA phases: (i) objective and scope, (ii) life cycle inventory, (iii) impact assessment, and (iv) interpretation. We summarize and discuss the reported environmentally friendly practices and provide a qualitative interpretation of the LCA findings. Moreover, we pinpoint key methodological challenges and propose research horizons. It is crucial to note that the environmental benefits of protected agriculture are context-dependent, with climate change emerging as a critical factor influencing crop yields and the system’s input and output resources. This impact is particularly pronounced in terms of water and energy consumption and carbon emissions. In regions with extreme climates, protected agriculture provides solutions for producers aiming to attain high yields of top-quality crops. The integration of circular bioeconomy strategies in this context allows mitigation of the environmental trade-offs identified by LCA.

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Section: Bibliometric Overview Of Lca In Protected Agriculturesupporting

confidence: 68%

Life Cycle Assessment in Protected Agriculture: Where Are We Now, and Where Should We Go Next?

Villagrán,

Romero-Perdomo,

Numa-Vergel

et al. 2023

Horticulturae

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“…The fate of inorganic waste is potentially more environmentally damaging than organic waste due to its longevity and poor economic return of recycling (Sayadi-Gmada et al, 2019). Large quantities of plastic waste material can be produced from industrial CEA systems that can overwhelm local recycling capabilities and end up in landfill (e.g., Castillo-Díaz et al, 2021). Rooting media (inert materials used to replicate soil in CEA systems) can be made of recycled organic or inorganic materials, and is discarded after each harvest.…”

Section: Integrated System Controlled Environment Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

CEA Systems: the Means to Achieve Future Food Security and Environmental Sustainability?

Cowan¹,

Ferrier²,

Spears³

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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As demand for food production continues to rise, it is clear that in order to meet the challenges of the future in terms of food security and environmental sustainability, radical changes are required throughout all levels of the global food system. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) (a.k.a. indoor farming) has an advantage over conventional farming methods in that production processes can be largely separated from the natural environment, thus, production is less reliant on environmental conditions, and pollution can be better restricted and controlled. While output potential of conventional farming at a global scale is predicted to suffer due to the effects of climate change, technological advancements in this time will drastically improve both the economic and environmental performance of CEA systems. This article summarizes the current understanding and gaps in knowledge surrounding the environmental sustainability of CEA systems, and assesses whether these systems may allow for intensive and fully sustainable agriculture at a global scale. The energy requirements and subsequent carbon footprint of many systems is currently the greatest environmental hurdle to overcome. The lack of economically grown staple crops which make up the majority of calories consumed by humans is also a major limiting factor in the expansion of CEA systems to reduce the environmental impacts of food production at a global scale. This review introduces the concept of Integrated System CEA (ISCEA) in which multiple CEA systems can be deployed in an integrated localized fashion to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts of food production. We conclude that it is feasible that with sufficient green energy, that ISCEA systems could largely negate most forms of environmental damage associated with conventional farming at a global scale (e.g., GHGs, deforestation, nitrogen, phosphorus, pesticide use, etc.). However, while there is plenty of research being carried out into improving energy efficiency, renewable energy and crop diversification in CEA systems, the circular economy approach to waste is largely ignored. We recommend that industries begin to investigate how nutrient flows and efficiencies in systems can be better managed to improve the environmental performance of CEA systems of the future.

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“…Increasing food consumption, which requires more efficient and sustainable agriculture, makes plastic mulching more essential to increase crop yields and improve crop quality [ 13 , 14 ]. At the end of use, the plastic mulch cannot be completely removed from the soil without leaving any residue [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation of Bio-Based and Biodegradable Plastic and Its Contribution to Soil Organic Carbon Stock

et al. 2023

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Expanding the use of environmentally friendly materials to protect the environment is one of the key factors in maintaining a sustainable ecological balance. Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) is considered among the most promising bio-based and biodegradable plastics for the future with a high number of applications in soil and agriculture. Therefore, the decomposition process of PBSA and its consequences for the carbon stored in soil require careful monitoring. For the first time, the stable isotope technique was applied in the current study to partitioning plastic- and soil-originated C in the CO2 released during 80 days of PBSA decomposition in a Haplic Chernozem soil as dependent on nitrogen availability. The decomposition of the plastic was accompanied by the C loss from soil organic matter (SOM) through priming, which in turn was dependent on added N. Nitrogen facilitated PBSA decomposition and reduced the priming effect during the first 6 weeks of the experiment. During the 80 days of plastic decomposition, 30% and 49% of the released CO2 were PBSA-derived, while the amount of SOM-derived CO2 exceeded the corresponding controls by 100.2 and 132.3% in PBSA-amended soil without and with N fertilization, respectively. Finally, only 4.1% and 5.4% of the PBSA added into the soil was mineralized to CO2, in the treatments without and with N amendment, respectively.

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The Management of Agriculture Plastic Waste in the Framework of Circular Economy. Case of the Almeria Greenhouse (Spain)

Cited by 22 publications

References 59 publications

Life Cycle Assessment in Protected Agriculture: Where Are We Now, and Where Should We Go Next?

Life Cycle Assessment in Protected Agriculture: Where Are We Now, and Where Should We Go Next?

CEA Systems: the Means to Achieve Future Food Security and Environmental Sustainability?

Degradation of Bio-Based and Biodegradable Plastic and Its Contribution to Soil Organic Carbon Stock

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