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Investigating the Structural Barriers and Opportunities for End-of-Life Management of Agricultural Plastic Waste within California's Strawberry Industry
Summary
Growing strawberries in California relies heavily on plastic sheeting and tubing, but once the growing season ends, most of that plastic gets landfilled, stockpiled, or shipped overseas rather than recycled — not because better options don't exist, but because cheap new plastic, industry distrust, and confusing regulations make throwing it away easier than reusing it. This matters because as this plastic breaks down in fields, landfills, or oceans, it can shed microplastics that end up in our soil, water, and food supply, meaning the way farms handle plastic waste is really a policy problem — not a technology problem — that ultimately affects
Agricultural plastic waste (APW) accounts for a significant and growing share of global plastic pollution, yet no study has documented how APW management functions across a specific crop system from production through end-of-life (EOL). This thesis addresses that gap by examining the structures and valuations that shape current EOL management of plastic mulch (PM) and drip tape (DT) in California's strawberry industry, one of the nation's most plastic-dependent crop systems. Drawing on an ethnographic approach that included 27 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, as well as site visits, this study traces how APW is produced, valued, and discarded within a structurally fragmented system. Grounded in discard studies and waste valuation theory, the analysis is organized around three intersecting dimensions: social perceptions, material realities, and economic and institutional structures. Findings reveal that EOL outcomes are not primarily the result of technological limitations or stakeholder indifference but are produced by interlocking structural forces — artificially cheap virgin resin, logistical geography that favors export over domestic processing, regulatory frameworks that paradoxically obstruct recycling infrastructure, and volatile end markets — that make landfilling, stockpiling, and export the path of least resistance season after season. Most significantly, this study identifies accumulated industry distrust and misinformation as undertheorized structural variables that function not as perception problems but as barriers. These findings reframe APW not as a waste management failure but as a production policy failure, and point toward the need for upstream intervention.