Issued by 2026 Magazine

The mulch dilemma: are biodegradable plastics really the solution ?

Science

AUTHOR : Takunda Y. Chitaka, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Bordeaux – ISM, France
Guido Sonnemann, Professor, University of Bordeaux – ISM, France

The agricultural sector faces a critical juncture: how to maintain productivity benefits while addressing plastic pollution. Within the SOPAM project, a Life Cycle Assessment was conducted to evaluate potential environmental impacts of biodegradable film. The research team explains.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most comprehensive method available to evaluate potential environmental impacts across multiple stages of a product’s life span, dissecting a product from cradle to grave, ie from raw material extraction to end-of-life management and final emissions.

Methodological framework: Life Cycle Assessment

LCA has four iterative phases: goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory (LCI), life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and life cycle interpretation (ISO, 2006).

The French SOPAM project conducted a cradle-to-grave LCA following ISO 14044 standards, comparing four functionally equivalent mulch films for melon cultivation (transparent recyclable polyethylene (PE) (25 µm), transparent biodegradable (BD) (20 µm), smoked recyclable PE (25 µm), smoked BD (15 µm)), with the following parameters:

Functional Unit: Film required to cultivate 1 kg of food-grade melon, with fields trials representative of national conditions (France).
System Boundaries: From cradle-to-grave, including raw material acquisition, film manufacturing, transportation, and end-of-life management.
Impact Assessment: The “Environmental Footprint 3.1” methodology was employed, with 16 impact categories, including climate change, freshwater ecotoxicity, resource use and land use.

The product life cycle stages were informed by a combination of secondary data and primary data sources from relevant stakeholders. Secondary data was sourced from the “Ecoinvent v3.10” database. The life cycles were modelled using the “SimaPro LCA Software”.

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