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Low-Carbon Valorization of Waste PE Mulch Film: A Carbon Footprint Comparative Analysis of Typical End-of-Life Treatment Pathways
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Farmers use thin plastic sheets (mulch film) to help crops grow, but disposing of the leftover plastic creates greenhouse gas emissions, and this waste plastic can also break down into microplastics that contaminate soil and potentially our food supply. This study found that recycling the plastic into new pellets or breaking it down through high-heat processing (pyrolysis) both produce far less carbon pollution than simply burning it, suggesting these methods could help reduce both climate impact and farmland plastic pollution if adopted more widely.
Widespread polyethylene (PE) mulch film application has caused severe farmland plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. To identify low-carbon end-of-life pathways for waste agricultural mulch film, this study established a full life-cycle carbon footprint model comparing three treatment scenarios—incineration, mechanical regranulation, and pyrolysis, each coupled with residue landfilling—under two accounting conditions: with and without carbon-compensation credits from by-product substitution. Using 1 t of waste film as the functional unit and an 8 km2 farmland plot (110.4 t of applied film) as the reference scenario, cradle-to-grave emissions were quantified. Without compensation, regranulation delivers the lowest emissions (519.17 t CO2 eq), 12.02 t CO2 eq below pyrolysis. With compensation credits, pyrolysis achieves the lowest net emission (247.82 t CO2 eq, 248.10 t CO2 eq less than regranulation), but this advantage arises from avoided emissions of product substitution rather than lower direct emissions. The per-tonne carbon footprint ranks pyrolysis (2.24 t CO2 eq) < regranulation (4.49 t CO2 eq) < incineration (5.15 t CO2 eq). A proposed 5400 t/year pyrolysis facility yields an annual net carbon reduction of 1082.16 t CO2 eq. These results inform differentiated disposal strategies for major mulch-film-covering provinces.
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