Agrochemical plastic packaging waste decontamination and recycling: pilot tests in Italy

Agriculture, one of the main economic pillars in Europe, plays a growing important role towards the environmental sustainability of the extra-urban land, in which the agricultural activities may proactively contribute to control and regulate the whole ecological conditions. Modern agriculture currently needs big quantities of agrochemicals, which are necessary for the growth and protection of crops and animals. These agrochemicals are commercially distributed to consumers in many types of containers. The most widely used among their packaging solutions usually employ plastic material (e.g., containers for liquid pesticide; sacks for granular fertilizer; etc.). This material, after the use of the agrochemical, needs to be decontaminated, before being entrained in a recycling process. In the present paper the main results coming from a EU-funded international project are reported, with specific reference to the pilot station that was realized in Italy with the aim to implement and test a codified system for the decontamination of these plastic containers for agrochemicals. The experimental tests were supported by relevant laboratory analysis, which have confirmed that the “triple rinsing” system – traditionally employed by farmers for washing and decontaminating these containers - may be effective only under some conditions. Triple-rinsing by farmers has indeed lead to an only partial decontamination of the plastic containers, if farmers did not follow an appropriately triple-rinsing protocol, or did not triple-rinse the containers immediately after their emptying.