The growing problem of agriplastics : plastics in agriculture are everywhere

AUTHOR : Christina DIXON, Ocean Campaign Leader Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

Agricultural plastics require even greater care in their use as they are essential to modern agriculture. Plastic farmers are well aware of this; hence their efforts in collecting, processing and recycling their used agricultural plastics. However, there are still environmental concerns about their true benefit/risk ratio and how best to manage their end-of-life, as EIA senior member Christina Dixon points out.

The use of plastics in agriculture (agriplastics) only accounts for a small fraction of total global plastics usage per year, estimated to be around 3.5 per cent, but as research and policy development into plastic pollution rapidly expands, the case of how to manage agriplastics is becoming an issue of increasing interest.

Agriplastic use has proliferated since the 1950’s, throughout a period of increased production of single-use plastics and development of modern-day intensive monoculture agriculture. In recent years, concerns have emerged around whether their benefits outweigh their impacts, in particular the alarm has been sounded around the use of agrochemicals, the often single-use nature of agriplastics, the lack of collection and recycling infrastructure and the fundamental lack of reliable data on their use and impacts.

A comprehensive approach essential

Agriplastics are unique in terms of how their current use is deeply embedded within the provision of one of society’s most essential services: food production. A significant amount of current agricultural practices has been designed around their use, and agriculture in turn is emmeshed in climate change, food security and other forms of environmental degradation. Disentangling all this will require multiple different measures and approaches, which is one of the main challenges facing those in the food supply chain, environmental advocates and policy makers alike. As companies, national governments and now even the United Nations grapple with how to address plastic pollution, a comprehensive and inclusive approach to dealing with agriplastics remains elusive but essential.

The myriad of types and uses for agriplastics is a major challenge when it comes to policymaking, with the term encompassing, but not limited to, protective cultivation films, nets, piping, irrigation, packaging, fertilisers, twines, pots, ropes, boxes and many other applications. From both macro to micro, intentionally added to unintentionally released, the presence of plastics in agriculture is ubiquitous.

Despite their ubiquity, their impacts are major cause for concern.  Agriplastic leakage into the environment causes physical, chemical and biological harm to soil, terrestrial, aquatic and marine life, ecosystems and ultimately human health. Impacts include the degradation of soil quality from leakage and accumulation; toxic and physical harm caused by plastics to soil biodiversity; impacts to plant health and crop yield through contamination; ingestion of micro and macro plastics by grazing animals and release into aquatic, marine and even atmospheric environments.