Resources, Conservation & Recycling 137 (2018) 229–242

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Resources, Conservation & Recycling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec

Full length article Agricultural plastic waste mapping using GIS. A case study in T ⁎ Ileana Blanco, Rosa Viviana Loisi, Carmela Sica, Evelia Schettini , Giuliano Vox

University of Bari – Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science (DISAAT), via Amendola 165/A, 70126, Bari, Italy

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Plastic materials used in agriculture mostly derive from synthetic petro-chemical polymers. They require at the GIS end of their lifetime a suitable waste management system for the collection and treatment. A research was Land use management carried out in order to define a GIS methodology for mapping the agricultural plastic waste on the land. The use Agricultural practices in agriculture of plastics in -- Province – Region – was investigated by applying Waste management orthophotos analysis and remote sensing survey. Besides purposed Plastic Waste Indexes were created to release Plastic films and nets land use to waste generation. The data were organized in a specific geo-database. The analysis showed that the Waste disposal − agricultural plastic waste yearly produced from covering films was 627 kg ha 1, from the anti-hail nets was − − − 159 kg ha 1, from nets for crop protection was 192 kg ha 1, from shading nets was 131 kg ha 1, from irrigation − pipes was 104 kg ha 1. Through GIS, the areas with high density of plastic wastes were pointed out and the suitable location of collection centres was defined. The produced maps and the GIS database can be always updatable tools, useful for monitoring and optimizing the collection of agricultural plastic waste from the farms and their transport to the recycling companies.

1. Introduction matrix for eco-composite materials reinforced with cellulosic materials and coupling agents. APW must be treated before recycling to make it The use of plastics in agriculture represents about 2% of the over clean of soil, organic matter and agrochemicals. The valorisation of 265 million tons of plastics produced per annum worldwide; this use is APW would therefore lead to the reduction of the quantity of plastics globally growing due to an ever more diffusion of intensive and semi- produced with non-renewable petrochemicals and prevent waste pro- intensive agricultural practices (Hemphill, 1993; Picuno, 2014; duction (Picuno et al., 2011, 2012b; Picuno, 2014; Sica et al., 2015a; Briassoulis et al., 2013). Plastic is used mainly to produce irrigation González-Sánchez et al., 2014). Some APW fractions cannot be re- pipes, covering materials for greenhouse and orchard, containers. cycled, thus the energy recovery can be a way of using the non-re- Agricultural plastics are mostly derived from synthetic petro-chemical cyclable plastic waste, exploiting its high heating value, as alternative polymers, thus they need a correct collection, disposal of and recycling option to the disposal in the landfills (Hemphill, 1993; Scarascia process at the end of their lifetime. These plastics can be dirty of soil Mugnozza et al., 2011). and organic matter and can be contaminated with pesticides and fer- The inefficiency of the few systems of APW management existing in tilizers, thus they are turning into a growing environmental issue, the European countries, the little input/output data on the use of which requires efficient disposal solutions with high costs for the plastics in agriculture hamper a correct APW collection, cleaning, growers. sorting and processing (Martínez Urreaga et al., 2015; Briassoulis et al., Agricultural plastic waste (APW) is often improperly disposed of 2013). There is a lack of a standardization methodology for identifying through open field burning, abandonment in the fields or along wa- the types, the quantities, the generation sites and the flows of APW in tercourses, burial in the soil, and disposal in the landfills. An in- an agricultural area in order to create a geo-referenced database useful appropriate disposal of APW produces environmental and economic to overcome the problem of APW management. In Europe, the co- problems, such as agro-ecosystem degradation, soil and water con- operation between governments and academic researchers within the tamination, release of harmful substances and air pollutants, food projects AgroChePack (2016) and AWARD (2016) has led to the de- contamination (Briassoulis et al., 2013; Sica et al., 2015b). APW can be, velopment of draft of different APW management plans. The knowledge instead, suitable for an economically feasible mechanical recycling. It on how much waste are present in an agricultural area and the iden- could be used even for producing other plastic materials, or used as tification of the areas with the greatest APW concentration in this

⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (I. Blanco), [email protected] (R.V. Loisi), [email protected] (C. Sica), [email protected] (E. Schettini), [email protected] (G. Vox). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.06.008 Received 21 February 2018; Received in revised form 18 April 2018; Accepted 6 June 2018 Available online 20 June 2018 0921-3449/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. I. Blanco et al. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 137 (2018) 229–242

Fig. 1. The study area where the GIS modelling was applied. geographical area could make possible the development of a sustainable social and economic factors. APW management plan. The aim of this paper is to quantify the APW on the land related to The APW generation has been analysed, in the European context, each crop type (CT) and plastic application (PA) in a well-defined rural but on the basis of statistical data and at the national level, making area by using GIS and defining a specifically purposed set of plastic difficult the localisation of the areas characterised by intense APW waste indexes (PWIs). The present study focuses on the implementation production, so far. When no primary data were available, estimated of a planning procedure aimed to provide a complete geo-referenced areas of protected cultivations were used for calculating quantities of information on the quantities and typologies of APW produced in the yearly-generated APW, by applying conversion factors defined on an territory of the Barletta-Andria-Trani Province (BAT), in Apulia Region, agricultural film producer experience (Briassoulis et al., 2013). A de- South Italy. The GIS database, easily manageable, will constitute a tailed geographical distribution of main APW quantities was defined on useful tool for the Authorities and the Stakeholders for monitoring the the Greek and Italian territories where the geographic distribution of APW production and properly manage the APW flows. This tool can crops was inferred from statistical sources and from data provided by promote sustainable solutions in landscape planning within the wider the Ministry of Agriculture (Hiskakis et al., 2008; Scarascia Mugnozza issue of the land conservation (Picuno et al., 2011; Díaz-Palacios- et al., 2008). Sisternes et al., 2014; Vox et al., 2016, 2017; Loisi et al., 2017). Local Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can be used to localize the authorities could update the GIS database by exploiting the updates of generation sites of waste on the land. The applicability of GIS depends regional land use databases shared by the regional sectors involved in on the availability of specific database, the geo-referenced database. territorial governance or by using remote sensing techniques for de- Through GIS a great amount of data can be efficiently stored, geo-re- tecting the land use changes (Lanorte et al., 2017; Scarascia Mugnozza ferenced, retrieved, analysed, and displayed, in relation to user-defined et al., 2016). specifications (Suresh and Sivasankar, 2014; Shamshiry et al., 2011; Onunkwo et al., 2012). It allows the selection of disposal sites con- sidering waste generation site and quantity, infrastructures, land use,

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Fig. 2. Vineyards covered above and laterally with coloured LDPE films.

1.1. The use of plastic in agriculture humidity (Picuno, 2014; Schettini and Vox, 2012; Scarascia Mugnozza et al., 2011). Their frequent replacement generates large amounts of Plastic films can be employed in agriculture for greenhouse, tunnel, post-consumer materials (Al-Maaded et al., 2012; Briassoulis et al., orchard and silage covering, soil mulching, solarization and direct 2012, 2013, 2014; Hemphill, 1993). The quantity of APW can be lim- covering. Covering plastic films are used to modify the microclimate ited by using innovative anti UV additives and thicker plastic materials inside the protected volume. Plastic nets can be used for crop shading for a higher durability (Picuno, 2014; Schettini et al., 2014; Stefani and protection and for harvesting operations. Moreover, irrigation and et al., 2014; Espí et al., 2007; Stefani et al., 2011; Schettini and Vox, drainage pipes, packaging containers and sacks, pots, trays and seedling 2012). containers, strings and ropes can be made from plastics (Picuno, 2014; APW is mostly made of geographically concentrated and seasonally Vox et al., 2010; Markarian, 2005). dependent materials (Simboli et al., 2015). APW generate a strong The benefits of plastic materials are: light weight and good me- impact in areas where protected horticultural crops are intensively chanical resistance, easy installation, use and management, lower costs spread, as in the Mediterranean countries and in developing countries in relation to other materials (Hopewell et al., 2009; Markarian, 2005). (Scarascia Mugnozza et al., 2011). APW is mainly composed by low- Crops quality and yield can be increased taking advantages of plastics density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density PE (LLDPE), high- because favourable conditions for an optimal development and growth density PE (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), ethylenvinylacetate (EVA), of the plants can be created. Moreover, resource efficiency can be im- polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), polymethyl methacrylate proved, use of farm land can be optimized, harvest periods can be ex- (PMMA) and glass reinforced polyester (GRP) (Scarascia Mugnozza tended, irrigation and water consumption can be decreased obtaining et al., 2011; Simboli et al., 2015; Briassoulis et al., 2013). water savings. Plastic covering nets and films can protect crops from The volume of APW globally generated varies greatly in literature adverse weather conditions, birds and aphids, and plastic mulches can from 2 to 6.5 million tons per year (Meng et al., 2016; Muise et al., reduce the use of chemicals to kill weeds (Briassoulis and Schettini, 2016). At the end of their useful life, only a small percentage of APW is 2003; Briassoulis et al., 2013; Picuno et al., 2012a; Mistriotis and recycled. In EU the amount of plastic materials used in agriculture Castellano, 2012; Deng et al., 2006; Castellano et al., 2008, 2016; during 2011 was more than 1.3 million tons; the recovery rate of APW Schettini et al., 2011). has been only 46% and the mechanical recycling rate has been about Greenhouse and high tunnel films represent the highest part in 23% (Plastics Europe, 2012; González-Sánchez et al., 2014). The volume of agricultural plastic materials (Espí et al., 2006). Plastic average annual consumption of agricultural plastic materials in Italy covering materials need to be frequently replaced being subject to the amounts to about 350,000 tons which in turn generates about 200,000 t − decay of the mechanical and radiometric properties due to the limited yr 1 of APW, of which 55% derives from greenhouse and low tunnel thickness, to their exposition to solar radiation, chemical pesticides, covering films, soil mulches, vineyards films and nets (Picuno et al., wind and hail storms, and variations in temperatures and relative 2012a).

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Table 1 Plastic Waste Index (PWI) per Plastic Application (PA) and Crop Type (CT).

− − − PA CT Density (kg m 3) thickness (μm) Life (month) PWI (kg ha 1 yr 1)

Films Vineyards 930.00 165.00 36.00 613.80 Orchards 930.00 170.00 36.00 764.15 Greenhouses 930.00 200.00 48.00 627.75 areic mass − (kg m 2) Nets Vineyards 0.07 60.00 159.03 (anti-hail net) Olive groves 0.07 153.76 0.50 (net for olive collection) Orchards 0.07 60.00 192.16 (net for crop protection) Greenhouses 0.12 102.00 141.18 (shading net) pipe length − (m ha 1)

Irrigation pipes PL25 PL100 Vineyards 4001.33 200.13 215.36 83.33 Olive groves 1600.00 200.00 216.80 50.00 Orchards 2500.00 200.13 217.28 62.50 Vegetables 3000.00 200.40 216.16 69.44 Greenhouses 4500.00 300.00 216.00 104.17 Fertilizer bags Vineyards 1.60 Olive groves 0.50 Orchards 2.20 Vegetables 2.50 Cereals 2.70 Greenhouses 2.00 Agrochemicals containers Vineyards 4.00 Olive groves 0.63 Orchards 1.80 Vegetables 1.70 Cereals 0.60 Greenhouses 3.40

In the last decades, several environmental-friendly novel materials and plastic application; have been produced and experimentally tested in order to limit the use (2) Preparation of the land use map in ArcMap; of fossil-based plastics. Innovative biodegradable in soil or compostable (3) Selection and highlighting on the land use map of the crops gen- materials have been manufactured using raw materials from renewable erating plastic waste; origin and having mechanical and physical properties analogous to (4) Detection on the map of plastic materials used for crop protection plastics derived from petrochemicals (Santagata et al., 2014; Vox and (film and net); Schettini, 2007; Briassoulis et al., 2015; Malinconico et al., 2008; Vox (5) Attribution of the PWIs for each crop and plastic application to the et al., 2010; Schettini et al., 2012; Sartore et al., 2013). different features in the land; (6) Quantitative evaluation and geo-referring of APW; 2. Materials and methods (7) Creation of a geo-database summarizing the complete information on the APW; The area of study is delimited by the administrative boundaries of (8) Realization of the APW maps; the Barletta-Andria-Trani Province (BAT), in Apulia Region, Southern (9) Identification of the suitable location of the APW collection centres. Italy (Fig. 1). BAT province has an extension of about 1530 km2, more than 390,000 inhabitants and is divided into 10 municipalities (Andria, The typologies of crops producing APW in the BAT Province terri- Barletta, , , Margherita di Savoia, Minervino tory were defined by analysing the data gathered during the 6th Italian Murge, San Ferdinando di Puglia, , Trani, ). The Agricultural Census (ISTAT, 2011). The census data has permitted to cereals (mainly wheat) are cultivated in the South area of the Province, define the main crops cultivated in the study area and to make a first olive groves are particularly concentrated in the North-East, orchards hypothesis on the different agricultural plastic materials used. After- and vegetables in the West. Vineyards, widely distributed throughout wards a survey among the farmers in the BAT Province was carried out, the whole agricultural territory, are mostly located in the North-West of within the AWARD project activities, by the University of Bari and the the territory. The agricultural area is characterized by an intense pro- Confagricoltura (General Confederation of Italian Agriculture) growers duction of APW linked to the massive presence of vineyards, olive association (AWARD, 2016). The survey was implemented by face-to- groves, orchards and vegetables cultivations. face interviews by submitting directly a questionnaire, specially de- The local Authority of the BAT Province has intended to solve the veloped for this purpose. The farmers associated to Confagricoltura and APW management problem through the introduction of modernization the major agricultural entrepreneurs located in the BAT Province were actions for the farms in the area. These actions have been developed contacted. Among the 112 contacted farmers, 75 farmers were available within the “Agricultural Waste valorisation for a competitive and sus- to respond to the interviews and fill out the authorless questionnaire in tainable Regional Development – AWARD” project (AWARD, 2016). the period June–September 2014. The questionnaire has permitted to A GIS database was created in order to geo-reference APW on the collect yearly farm data on: the cultivated surface and the crop ty- land. The following work phases were carried out: pology; the different kind of plastic materials used for each crop; the polymer type, thickness, weight, size, the connected quantities per (1) Creation of a set of plastic waste indexes (PWIs) for each crop type hectare, their useful lifetime in months; the commonly used agricultural

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Fig. 3. The Land Use map on the study area. practices such as how the farmers use and install plastic films, irrigation The survey showed that vineyards in the study area have the pe- pipes, etc.; the way of storing and cleaning the materials after the culiarity of being cultivated according to the traditional “tendone” seasonal use and at the end of their lifetime; the type of collection, such technique (Fig. 2), which is a grape cultivation system with a sup- as manual or mechanical collection, stacking after reducing the film/ porting structure (pergola) that may be covered with plastic films or net into smaller sheets, pressing the containers or direct stacking; the nets (Picuno et al., 2011; Vox et al., 2012). Farmers use films and nets level of dirtiness and the pollution typologies affecting APW. to anticipate the grape maturation, to postpone the harvest period to The useful lifetime is the total number of months from the time of late autumn, to protect the grapes by rain, hail, wind and birds. Ac- first use to the disposal. Some plastic materials can be used for more cording to this technique, films or nets or even the overlap of both are than one growing season. For instance, vineyards can be covered with stretched on the supporting structure to form a double pitched roof on plastic films for about 5–6 consecutive months per year; the films are each row. The application of this practice results in an increase of the usually rewound after the harvest. The same films can be reused for plastic covering materials consume and huge quantities of APW. about three growing seasons, one per year, with a lifetime of 36 The amount of APW related to each crop type and plastic applica- months. tion was evaluated by using the PWIs. They were calculated by ela- The analysis of the survey data put in evidence that: 55.6% of the borating the responses of the questionnaire provided by the 75 farmers, farms was dedicated to the cultivation of olive trees and to other cul- taking into account the features and the periodicity of the waste gen- tivation, 22.2% of the farms was reserved exclusively to olive groves, eration mechanism. The indexes were verified with literature data, di- 8.3% only to orchards, 5.6% only to vineyards, 5.5% to vegetables and rect communications from manufactures, and the database of the 2.8% to both orchards and vineyards. It emerged that the interviewed University of Bari on the physical properties of the agricultural plastic farmers do not use all the types of plastics. Concerning APW production materials (AWARD, 2016). for each crop type, we considered the sum of the contributions of the The plastic consumption values related to the use of films and nets different applications of plastic materials. were evaluated considering their thickness and density dependent on

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− − Fig. 4. The distribution of the overall density of APW (kg ha 1yr 1) in the Province of BAT.

Table 2 Total APW in the study area per waste typology and municipality.

Municipality Irrigation pipes (tons per Covering films and nets Bags (tons per Containers (tons per Olive nets (tons TOTAL (tons per year) (tons per year) year) year) per year) year)

ANDRIA 1237.53 166.93 38.77 31.28 8.41 1482.92 BARLETTA 739.87 218.4 15.90 25.02 2.72 1001.91 BISCEGLIE 288.83 150.53 4.20 5.47 2.30 451.33 CANOSA DI PUGLIA 755.02 144.41 19.24 27.18 2.32 948.17 MARGHERITA DI SAVOIA 71.05 0.00 3.28 2.64 0.01 76.98 322.06 33.60 40.67 18.86 1.04 416.23 SAN FERDINANDO DI PUGLIA 229.87 70.25 4.60 7.78 0.81 313.31 SPINAZZOLA 19.60 2.61 38.72 8.86 0.15 69.94 TRANI 438.50 218.84 8.54 10.31 2.83 679.02 TRINITAPOLI 607.16 119.20 19.28 25.63 0.92 772.19

BAT 4709.49 1124.77 193.20 163.03 21.51 6212.00 the specific application: films and nets for greenhouse and low tunnel consumption related to the use of irrigation pipes was evaluated con- covering; mulching films; nets for crop protection from hail, wind, and sidering their length, cross section, weight and the useful life in months. birds; shading nets; nets for olive collection. The covering slope and APW related to the use of fertilizer bags and agrochemicals containers overlapping, the covering material surface to soil surface ratio, and the were estimated based on the consumption data and on the utilized useful life in months were also taken into account. The plastic agricultural area obtained from the survey.

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− − Fig. 5. The distribution of the amount of plastic waste deriving from irrigation pipes (kg ha 1yr 1).

Table 1 summarizes the PWIs with the values of the parameters used used for vineyard is 3 and 5 years, respectively. to calculate them. PWI is the estimated yearly average value of waste PWI for the plastic application (PA) “films” was computed by: −1 −1 per cultivated area (kg ha yr ) for different plastic application in − − − PWI = S ·ρ·TK·life 1·UF (kg ha 1 yr 1) (1) each crop type. The widespread crops in the Province of BAT were cr cvc considered. The data were collected from the 75 questionnaires, and where: Scr is the surface correction factor which takes into account the CoStat software (CoHort Software, Monterey, CA, USA) was used for the increase of the material surface due to the coverage slope with respect statistical analysis. to the soil surface (Scr is equal to 1.20, 1.45 and 1.35 for vineyards, The films and nets for greenhouses, and the irrigation pipes for all orchards and greenhouses, respectively); ρ is the plastic density (kg − the crops are kept mounted throughout the year. The lifetime of m 3); TK is the plastic thickness (μm); life is the plastic useful lifetime fi – greenhouse lms is about 4 years, of greenhouse nets is 8 9 years and of (month); UFcvc is the covering unit conversion factor for converting the -1 -1 3 -1 -1 -1 the irrigation pipes is about 18 years. The nets for olive collection are result in kg ha yr unit (UFcvc = 0.12 m μm month yr ha ). usually employed from November to January during each year; their PWI for the PA “nets” was computed by: lifetime is 12–13 years. In the case of orchards, the farmers use the films −1 −1 −1 from February to May for anticipating the fruit maturation, while they PWI = Scr·AM·life ·UNcvc (kg ha yr ) (2) – use nets for 4 5 months per year to protect the fruits from hail, rain, where: S is the surface correction factor which takes into account the fi cr birds and insects. The lifetime of the lms and the nets used for orchard increase of material surface due to the coverage slope (S is equal to fi cr is 3 and 5 years, respectively. Farmers generally use plastic lms on 1.20 for vineyards, 1.45 for orchards, 1.35 for greenhouses and 1.00 for − vineyards from February to July for advancing the harvesting or from olive groves); AM is the areic mass (kg m 2) for the HDPE nets; TK is August to December for delaying it (Novello et al., 2000). The nets for the plastic thickness (μm); life is the plastic useful lifetime (month); vineyards are generally used in the same periods, but they can often UNcvc is the covering unit conversion factor for converting the result in remain mounted throughout the year. The lifetime of films and nets −1 −1 2 −1 −1 kg ha yr unit (UNcvc = 0.12 m month yr ha ).

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− − Fig. 6. The distribution of the amount of plastic waste deriving from covering films and nets (kg ha 1yr 1).

Concerning vineyards, 15% of the interviewed farmers protect vi- the total amount of plastic waste for each land feature, characterized by neyards with plastic films, 10% of the farmers use plastic nets and 60% a specific crop. of the farmers cover vineyards with both plastic films and nets. Films or The base map materials used were: nets are arranged on pergola as above described. When film and net are used together, the film is generally put over the net and both of them • Digital colour orthophotos at a scale of 1:5000, having a pixel use the same supporting structure. ground resolution of 50 cm, obtained from aerial flights performed All the crop types are provided with drip irrigation fixed system. in 2011 and 2013; they are available online (Regione Puglia, 2016); The irrigation system consists of the header HDPE tubes (diameter • Land Use (LUS) Map of the Apulia Region at a scale of 1:5000: it 100 mm) from which detach secondary HDPE tubes (diameter 25 mm) derives from the 2006 orthophotos having 50 cm pixel, updated along the rows. PWI for the PA “irrigation pipes” of all the crop types is with the new areas found on the 2011 orthophotos; the legend of the given by: map complies with the European CORINE Land Cover Changes

− − − Database with an extension to the fourth level. This LUS map is PWI= (PL ·PW +PL ·PW )·life 1·U (kg ha 1 yr 1) (3) 25 25 100 100 cvp freely available on the website of the Apulia Region (Regione Puglia, −1 where: PL25 is the length of the pipe with 25 mm diameter (m ha ); 2016). PW25 is the weight of the pipe with 25 mm diameter (PW25 = 0.25 kg −1 −1 m ); PL100 is the length of the pipe with 100 mm diameter (m ha ); The base maps, the municipality boundaries and the database on PW100 is the weight of the pipe with 100 mm diameter (PW100 = 2.5 kg APW were managed by means of the ArcMap10 ESRI GIS software −1 m ); life is the plastic useful lifetime (month); Ucvp is the pipes unit (www.esri.com). The maps were placed in the WGS 84 / UTM zone 33N −1 −1 factor which converts the result in kg ha yr unit (Ucvp = 12 month reference system. − yr 1). The Apulia LUS map provides the data on the spatial distribution of The sum of the contributions due to the different types of PA defined the different crops. It is available in several shapefiles, depending on

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− − Fig. 7. The distribution of the amount of plastic waste deriving from bags (kg ha 1yr 1). the detected area. The selected shapefiles needed to be merged in order data and updated to 2014. The land use database was expanded adding to obtain a single shapefile to work on. The resulting shapefile was then 15 fields to the already given 3 fields, which identify the land use clipped on the study area for limiting the amount of data to be handled. polygons. The supplementary 15 fields were populated with data on the The only crops that generate plastic waste were highlighted on the PWI for each PA, which is characterised by its CT, carried out in the map by means of a subsequent further processing of the Apulia LUS polygon area. map. The next phase consisted in detecting additional information The total waste for a given i-th feature, including several PAs, is (missing on the LUS map) on the typology and characteristic of the calculated as follows: plastic covering structures employed for the cultivation. The presence N −1 of a covering system and the kind of cladding material employed, APWii=× S∑PA=1 PWICT, PA (kg yr ) (4) whether film or net, were assessed. The additional data were obtained through the overlay mapping of the base map material and by means of where Si is the surface of the i-th feature, PWICT,PA is the plastic waste the simultaneous operation of photo-interpretation of the web-mapping index for the CT of the i-th parcel and for the specific PA, N is the tools Google Maps 2014 and Google Earth 2014. number of PAs for the CT present in the i-th feature. A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver with a field Eq. (4) was integrated into the GIS database and data of the overall computer were used to carry out land surveys in the areas with un- waste production in the feature were added. certain identification of the land use, especially in presence of covering The APW total amount per application and the total production of film or net. A system consisting of a Pro 6H receiver and a Juno 5 APW generated in the Province of BAT were calculated. Finally, the handheld computer (Trimble, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) were used for the dedicated geo-database allowed the evaluation of the spatial distribu- surveys; Trimble TerraSync and GPS Pathfinder Office software were tion of the plastic waste through the creation and analysis of purpose- used for data management. built thematic maps. The database of the GIS software was detailed with the additional The suitable position on the land of the first waste collection centres

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− − Fig. 8. The distribution of the amount of plastic waste deriving from containers (kg ha 1yr 1). on the land, one for each kind of APW generated by a specific plastic irrigation pipes, nets for olive collection, agrochemicals containers and application, was evaluated by means of the GIS. At the collection cen- fertilizers bags; Sp,i is the weighting function for each type of APW tres, the sorting, packaging and storage will take place; some materials (subscript p) and for each feature (subscript i) that takes into account could be rejected for incompatibility with the characteristics of the the quantity of APW produced in the corresponding feature polygon

EWC (European waste catalogue codes) of the waste. Most of the waste surface for the application “p”; xi and yi are the coordinates of each is reusable, therefore acceptable, and has a market price. It will then be feature centroid; Np is the number of the features of each APW type. The resold to plants authorized for recycling. Other materials, instead, could QGIS mean coordinate(s) tool was used for this purpose. be too dirty or of poor quality, thus they have a higher disposal cost. Each single land area was geo-referenced by means of a polygon 3. Results and discussion (feature); the centroid tool of the QGIS software program (QGIS, 2016) was used to localize the geometric centre (centroid) of the features. Concerning raw materials of APW, direct questions and ques- Each polygon was identified by the coordinates of its centroid that were tionnaires in the BAT province revealed that: related to the APW production in the feature area. The weighted average value of the coordinates was calculated for each application, in • pipes for crop irrigation are mainly in HDPE; order to identify the suitable localization of the collection centres, by: • films in LDPE and nets in HDPE are mainly used for vineyard (table grape) and orchards protection; Np Np ∑i=1 Sxpi, i ∑i=1 Sypi, i • nets in PP are used for olives collection; Xp = Yp = Np Np • plastic containers in HDPE are used for agrochemicals (fertilizers ∑ Spi, ∑ Spi, (5) i=1 i=1 and pesticides); greenhouses covering films in EVA are used for protected cultivation where the subscript p indicates the kind of plastic application gen- • of vegetables. erating a specific APW type, i.e. covering plastic films and nets,

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− − Fig. 9. The distribution of the amount of plastic waste deriving from olive nets (kg ha 1yr 1).

Concerning the APW management the following peculiarities was recorded for the PA “irrigation pipes” of the CT “Greenhouses” − − emerged: (104.17 kg ha 1 yr 1). A geo-referenced database on the APW production was created by • all farmers collect APW manually. The temporary storage at the using the base map material in the GIS. Fig. 3 shows the crop dis- farm consisted of a simple accumulation without applying any tribution in the study area: 16% of the territorial surface is cultivated procedure as sorting APW based on the raw material, type or colour. with vineyards, 28% with olive trees, 31% is arable land (cereals and APW was not reduced in size, for example covering materials were vegetables) and 2% is cultivated with fruit trees and berry plantations. not compressed and containers and pots were not pressed. The created database allowed the generation of the thematic maps • most farmers (97.3%) store APW in temporary farming areas where on the spatial distribution of APW in the Province of BAT. Fig. 4 depicts APW is mixed and not protected by atmospheric agents; the overall density of produced waste resulting from the sum of the • APW is generally contaminated with soil, plant residues, agro- obtained values per waste individual types. The waste density ranged − − chemicals and pesticides. The presence of one of the contaminants is from 3.30 kg ha 1 yr-1 for an arable land (cereals) to 868.57 kg ha 1 yr- due to their usage in field, to the cultivation techniques and to the 1 for a greenhouse covered with plastic films and shading nets. The provisional stacking method. Generally product identification labels waste generated by the use of irrigation pipes strongly influenced the are present. overall density of APW; other plastic wastes contributed less. The analysis of the results obtained by applying the average plastic Table 1 shows the PWIs in relation with the commonly used agri- consumption indexes to the land use map (Table 2) shows that the total cultural practices in the selected area. The PA “film” for the CT amount of produced APW per year is about 6200 tons. The largest “Orchards” strongly contributed to APW generation with a PWI of contribution (76%) comes from the irrigation pipes of all the irrigated − − 764.15 kg ha 1 yr 1. There is a high contribution also from the PA crops, i.e. vineyards, olive trees, vegetables, orchards; 18% originates − − “net” for the CT “Orchards” (192.16 kg ha 1 yr 1). Another high value from the plastic covers of vineyards and fruit trees. The contribution

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Fig. 10. The suitable location of the collection centres on the land for each kind of APW. deriving from bags, containers and olive nets is not significant on the header HDPE tubes from which detach secondary HDPE tubes along the overall APW production: the waste produced from bags is about 3% of rows. The irrigation system for vineyards is denser than that of olive the total waste, APW from containers is 2% and from olive nets 1%. groves and orchards. The greenhouses are characterized by a greater The Andria municipality produces the highest amount of APW due use of irrigation pipes with respect to the same cultivations in open to its large municipal land area. However when considering the pro- field. duced amount of the APW in relation to the municipality surface, San Fig. 6 depicts the distribution of the amount of plastic waste de- Ferdinando di Puglia comes out as the municipality with the highest riving from the use of covering films and nets. The highest densities of average production of APW per cultivated area. plastic waste, related to covering materials, are recorded in the areas Fig. 5 presents the territorial distribution of the estimated APW with vineyards due to the widespread use of films and nets for vine- generated annually per hectare of cultivated area from the use of irri- yards protection in the BAT Province. Lower values where pointed out gation pipes, which mostly contribute to the overall waste production. in the other cultivated areas. The waste density ranged from 159 kg − − A high difference in waste production was pointed out between the ha 1 yr-1 in the case of vineyards covered with nets to 773 kg ha 1 yr-1 areas with vineyards or greenhouses and the areas cultivated with olive for the vineyards protected with both films and nets. trees. The waste density, related to the irrigation pipes, ranged from A minimum contribution derives from the waste generated from − − 50 kg ha 1 yr-1 in the case of olive trees to 104 kg ha 1 yr-1 for bags, containers and olive nets. Figs. 7 and 8 present the distribution of greenhouses. According to the survey data, all detected vineyards, olive the APW generated annually from fertilizer bags and from agrochemical groves and orchards are provided with a drip fixed system, consisting of containers. In relation to the bags, the waste density ranged from 0.5 kg

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− − ha 1 yr-1 for olive trees to 2.7 kg ha 1 yr-1 for cereals, while for con- implementation of action plans, by increasing the knowledge about the − tainers the density ranged from 0.6 kg ha 1 yr-1 for olive trees or cer- land. − eals to 4.0 kg ha 1 yr-1 for vineyards. Fig. 9 shows the distribution of A further development of the proposed territorial analysis technique the APW deriving from the replacement of olive nets, corresponding to could be to combine it with multiple criteria analysis in order to eval- − all the areas with olive trees, with a waste density equal to 0.5 kg ha 1 uate the collection centres site based on a land suitability index. yr-1. Finally, the most suitable location areas for the collection centre for Acknowledgements each kind of APW were defined in relation to quantity and distribution of waste generated on the land. The farmers must transport APW at The contribution to programming and performing this research their expenses. The position of the collection centre was defined with a must be equally shared between the Authors. buffer area (radius of 3 km), in relation with the request of the com- The present research has been carried out under the project panies engaged in the waste management. A final suitability map was “AWARD Agricultural Waste valorisation for a competitive and sus- created (Fig. 10), showing the position of the collection centres and of tainable Regional Development”, European Territorial Cooperation the sensitive areas identified by Apulian Regional Territorial Landscape Programme Greece-Italy 2007–2013, Contract n. I3.11.03. Plan, i.e. Alta Murgia National Park, Margherita di Savoia Salt-marshes, Regional Natural Park of the River. All the collection centres References were outside of the sensitive areas with the exception of that one re- lating to bags. In this case, the collection centre could be located in the AgroChePack, 2016. Design of a Common Agrochemical Plastic Packaging Waste buffer area for avoiding conflict with the sensitive areas. The map is Management Scheme to Protect Natural Resources in Synergy with Agricultural Plastic Waste Valorization. . (Accessed 20 July 2016). http://www.agrochepack. useful in order to make an initial selection of the most suitable areas. aua.gr/. The location of the collection centres was evaluated within the Al-Maaded, M., Madi, N.K., Kahraman, R., Hodzic, A., Ozerkan, N.G., 2012. An overview boundaries of the BAT province, due to the exclusive administrative of solid waste management and plastic recycling in Qatar. J. Polym. Environ. 20 (1), 186–194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10924-011-0332-2. and territorial competence of BAT local Authority in the APW man- AWARD, 2016. Agricultural Waste Valorisation for a Competitive and Sustainable agement. However, the methodology can be shared between neigh- Regional Development. European Territorial Cooperation Programme Greece-Italy bouring provinces for defining common collection centres. 2007-2013. . (Accessed 20 July2016). http://www.award-project.eu/. Briassoulis, D., Schettini, E., 2003. Analysis and design of low-density polyethylene greenhouse films. Biosyst. Eng. 84 (3), 303–314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1537- 4. Conclusion 5110(02)00241-6. Briassoulis, D., Hiskakis, M., Babou, E., Antiohos, S.K., Papadi, C., 2012. Experimental The increasing diffusion of intensive and semi-intensive agricultural investigation of the quality characteristics of agricultural plastic wastes regarding their recycling and energy recovery potential. 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