Material Flow Analysis of Plastic Materials by Type of Agricultural Products

Abstract

 In recent years, many studies have been conducted on the proper disposal of waste plastics discharged from the agricultural sector. However, there have not been enough studies on the number of plastic materials used and discharged, focusing on the detailed classification of plastic materials by agricultural product category. In this study, we attempted to estimate the material flow of plastics used in agricultural products by classifying them into three categories: fruit vegetables, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, and cereals.

 The results showed that the amount of plastic used per unit cropland area was 850 g/m²/year for fruit vegetables, 330 g/m²/year for leafy greens, 0.97 g/m²/year for root crops, and 2.5 g/m²/year for cereal crops. Emissions per unit cropland area were 350 g/m²/year for fruit vegetables, 63 g/m²/year for leafy stems, 0.97g/m²/year for root crops, and 0.64 g/m²/year for cereal crops.