Environmental and economic assessment of biodegradable and compostable alternatives for plastic materials in greenhouses Thrän, Jacob García García, Guillermo Circular economy Horticulture Plastics LCC LCA Carbon footprint Waste management Data for this article was collected in the projects “REmanufacture the food supply chain by testing INNovative solutions for zero inorganic WASTE (REINWASTE)”, integrated in the Interreg Med programme and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under grant agreement 3300, and “Actividades de demostración e información para la gestión de residuos sólidos derivados de la horticultura protegida (RECICLAND - PP.RSRR.RSRR1900.001)”, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, in the Rural Development Program of Andalusia 2014-2020, Operation PDR C15C0122U1. Guillermo Garcia-Garcia acknowledges the Grant ‘Juan de la Cierva Incorporación’ funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and “ESF Investing in your future”, and the Grant ‘Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship’ with Grant agreement ID: 101052284. We acknowledge funding for open access provided by Universidad de Granada/CBUA. Plastics and other materials commonly used in horticulture for plant support (e.g. raffia) and soil protection (e.g. mulching film) pose a challenge to achieving a circular economy. These materials contaminate plant residues, hampering their direct reuse due to the need for separation and cleaning. As a result, contaminated plant residues is often landfilled or incinerated. This study investigates the replacement of conventional plastic raffia and mulching film with biodegradable and compostable alternatives. Polypropylene raffia is compared with a biodegradable viscose polymer and compostable jute fibre, while polyethylene mulching film is compared with a biodegradable polylactic acid film. Conventional and novel alternatives are compared economically using Life-Cycle Costing and environmentally using Life-Cycle Assessment. The economic assessment is based on case studies with two horticultural companies in Almeria (south-eastern Spain), while the environmental analysis uses data from the Ecoinvent database. The use of biodegradable and compostable alternatives for raffia and mulching film proved to be 49% more expensive than conventional options. However, when conventional plastic waste is incinerated rather than landfilled, biodegradable and compostable alternatives have a lower carbon footprint. Although biodegradable and compostable options can be more expensive and have higher impacts in certain situations, proper waste management can lead to environmental benefits. With optimisation and incentives, these alternative options support the transition of horticulture to a sustainable circular economy. 2024-01-08T12:41:54Z 2024-01-08T12:41:54Z 2024-03-01 info:eu-repo/semantics/article J. Thrän et al. Environmental and economic assessment of biodegradable and compostable alternatives for plastic materials in greenhouses. Waste Management 175 (2024) 92–100. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2023.12.049] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/86619 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.12.049 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 4.0 Internacional Elsevier