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Circular use of biobased plastics in agriculture and horticulture
Summary
Researchers presented outcomes from a three-year collaborative project developing biobased and biodegradable plastic products for agriculture and horticulture, demonstrating viable pathways for recycling, industrial composting, and programmed soil biodegradation across applications including growbags and plant propagation products, while introducing an online tool to help farmers select circular plastic options that minimise microplastic accumulation.
This presentation will showcase the results of a 3 year project in which Wageningen University & Research collaborated with 7 industrial partners on the development and demonstration of new biobased and biodegradable plastic products with applications in agriculture and horticulture. The project is built upon the principle that product design should encompass both functionality during use and at end-of-life. In this respect plastic products were developed specifically for recycling, industrial composting and biodegradation in soil. The presentation will showcase new challenges and opportunities for recycling of agricultural plastics. For applications that require programmed biodegradation in soil (plant propagation products and turf netting) new material formulations will be discussed and their applicability in practice is assessed in field tests. In addition, the results of greenhouse demonstrations of industrially compostable growbags and floriculture netting will be disseminated. The project results feed into a new online tool that can be used by farmers, growers and their suppliers to select the most suitable biobased plastic for optimal product circularity without the accumulation of (micro)plastics in the environment.