AGROCHEPACK
Title: Design of a common agrochemical plastic packaging waste management scheme to protect natural resources in synergy with agricultural plastic waste valorisation
Summary: The participating Mediterranean European countries consumed 20.6 kg/ha tonnes of agrochemicals in 2003. This amount increases steadily. These counties are among the major European consumers of agrochemicals per farmed hectare, with large agricultural areas. This means that a high volume of packaging is used and should be returned for recycling or energy recovery if not recyclable.
Recycling of APPW is a necessary and important natural resources protection task. However it is also a technically complicated and rather expensive process. The release of harmful substances by uncontrolled burning of APPW in the fields, or their burying, contaminates soil and water and compromises the products safety and health of consumers, wasting resources that may be recycled or used for energy recovery. Mismanagement of APPW leads to direct pollution of productive soil and water resources with inevitable contamination of the Mediterranean Sea and ground water, already at crucial level. These serious problems affect strongly all participating countries. Some schemes for the management of APPW have been established in a few European countries but their operational conditions and technical criteria could be improved. Thus, in Spain and France the established APPW management schemes are incompatible while they are not combined in a synergic way with the management of other APW categories to optimise resources and reduce cost.
The project aims at designing an environmental friendly and economically viable APPW management scheme by transferring know-how from existing schemes and LabelAgriWaste, by identifying problems and bottlenecks faced by existing schemes in Europe and by designing and implementing effective pilot schemes in Greece, Cyprus and Italy. The schemes in operation in Spain and France will benefit by adapting technical solutions developed by LabelAgriWaste.
The project develops in four phases:
1. Record & analysis of current situation scheme: Map APPW related agricultural activities, existing schemes and legal framework in participating regions.Establish reverse logistics of agrochemical packaging for continuous updating and traceability
2. Design of APPW management:Design APPW management scheme based on specifications and guidelines of LabelAgriWaste adapted to technical and financial parameters of participating regions and potential improvements and compatibility adaptations of existing schemes in France and Spain.Design pilot stations with supporting technical and legal elements, as applicable
3. Pilot scheme implementation:Establishment of pilot stations, training of farmers, pilot tests on management of APPW, sampling, analysis, quantification and evaluation of results, optimisation and finalisation of APPW scheme
4. Dissemination of the project results:Dissemination activities and training sessions for local authorities, farmers and organisations, national services and consumers and local communities on implementing proposed APPW management.
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