IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i14p8405-d858856.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Life Cycle Analysis to Optimally Manage Wasted Plastic Pesticide Containers

Author

Listed:
  • Georgios Garbounis

    (Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67132 Xanthi, Greece)

  • Helen Karasali

    (Laboratory of Chemical Control of Pesticides, Benaki Phytopathological Institute, Kifissia, 14561 Athens, Greece)

  • Dimitrios Komilis

    (Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67132 Xanthi, Greece)

Abstract

Wasted Plastic Pesticide Containers (WPPC) represent the end-of-life cycle of used agrochemicals. Optimal treatment of these containers is necessary to protect both human health and the environment. In Europe, WPPC are typically rinsed after use and landfilled along with commingled Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). There seems to be no Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology in the international literature to compare the environmental impacts of the WPPC management methods. The goal of this work was to perform an LCA to quantify the environmental impacts of seven alternative scenarios to treat and dispose of Wasted Plastic Pesticide Containers and rank them according to their environmental footprints. Thirty-one WPPCs were sampled, triple-rinsed and an analysis of their residual active pesticide was performed. Those residuals amounts were included in the LCA when assembling the WPPC unit. The scenario in which WPPC are separately collected and recycled resulted in the lowest net environmental impacts. Scenario 5 (50% recycling and 50% incineration) and scenario 6 (50% recycling and 50% landfilling) were the next environmentally optimal technologies, while the landfilling scenario resulted in the highest environmental impacts. A sensitivity analysis was performed, using different impact assessment methods, different transportation distances and different types of landfills and incinerators. The residual pesticide amount did not alter the ranking of the management scenarios. Triple rinsing was found to render all wasted containers as non-hazardous wastes.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgios Garbounis & Helen Karasali & Dimitrios Komilis, 2022. "A Life Cycle Analysis to Optimally Manage Wasted Plastic Pesticide Containers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8405-:d:858856
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8405/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8405/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Widawsky & Scott Rozelle & Songqing Jin & Jikun Huang, 1998. "Pesticide productivity, host‐plant resistance and productivity in China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 19(1-2), pages 203-217, September.
    2. Maria Clara Oliveira & Alessandra Magrini, 2017. "Life Cycle Assessment of Lubricant Oil Plastic Containers in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hareau, Guy Gaston & Norton, George W. & Mills, Bradford F. & Peterson, Everett B., 2004. "Potential Benefits Of Transgenic Rice In Asia: A General Equilibrium Approach," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20334, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Jikun Huang & Fangbin Qiao & Linxiu Zhang & Scott Rozelle, 2000. "Farm Pesticide, Rice Production, and Human Health," EEPSEA Research Report rr2000051, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised May 2000.
    3. Managi, Shunsuke, 2006. "Are there increasing returns to pollution abatement? Empirical analytics of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in pesticides," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 617-636, June.
    4. Huang, Jikun & Hu, Ruifa & Pray, Carl & Qiao, Fangbin & Rozelle, Scott, 2003. "Biotechnology as an alternative to chemical pesticides: a case study of Bt cotton in China," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 55-67, July.
    5. Chen, Zhuo & Huffman, Wallace E. & Rozelle, Scott, 2009. "Farm technology and technical efficiency: Evidence from four regions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 153-161, June.
    6. Clevo Wilson, 2002. "Private costs and the relation between pesticide exposure and ill health: evidence from Sri Lanka," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 5(3), pages 213-227, September.
    7. Ekbom, Anders & Sterner, Thomas, 2009. "Soil Properties and Soil Conservation Investments in Agricultural Production - a Case study of Kenya’s Central Highlands," Working Papers in Economics 340, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    8. Deborah Panepinto & Marco Ravina & Mariachiara Zanetti, 2022. "An Overview of Thermal Treatment Emissions with a Particular Focus on CO 2 Parameter," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, November.
    9. Clevo Wilson, 2002. "Private costs and the relation between pesticide exposure and ill health: evidence from Sri Lanka," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 5(3), pages 213-227, September.
    10. Van Dusen, M. Eric, 2000. "In Situ Conservation Of Crop Genetic Resources In The Mexican Milpa System," Dissertations 11941, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    11. Abdul Rehman & Luan Jingdong, 2017. "An econometric analysis of major Chinese food crops: An empirical study," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1323372-132, January.
    12. Huang, Jikun & Hu, Ruifa & Rozelle, Scott & Qiao, Fangbin & Pray, Carl E., 2002. "Transgenic varieties and productivity of smallholder cotton farmers in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 46(3), pages 1-21.
    13. Wilson, Clevo & Tisdell, Clem, 2001. "Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 449-462, December.
    14. Van den Berg, M. Marrit & Hengsdijk, Huib & Wolf, Joost & Van Ittersum, Martin K. & Guanghuo, Wang & Roetter, Reimund P., 2007. "The impact of increasing farm size and mechanization on rural income and rice production in Zhejiang province, China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(3), pages 841-850, June.
    15. Chen, Ruijian & Huang, Jikun & Qiao, Fangbin, 2013. "Farmers' knowledge on pest management and pesticide use in Bt cotton production in china," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 15-24.
    16. Yuquan W. Zhang & Bruce A. McCarl & Yibo Luan & Ulrich Kleinwechter, 2018. "Climate change effects on pesticide usage reduction efforts: a case study in China," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 685-701, June.
    17. Ekbom, Anders & Sterner, Thomas, 2008. "Production Function Analysis of Soil Properties and Soil Conservation Investments in Tropical Agriculture," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-20-efd, Resources for the Future.
    18. Midingoyi, Soul-Kifouly & Affognon, Hippolyte & Macharia, Ibrahim & Leru, Bruno, 2021. "Productivity Effects of Biological Control of Maize Stemborer Pests in Kenya: Damage Control Function Approach," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315385, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Khan, Shahbaz & Hanjra, Munir A. & Mu, Jianxin, 2009. "Water management and crop production for food security in China: A review," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 349-360, March.
    20. Yang, Hong & Zhang, Xiaohe & Zehnder, Alexander J. B., 2003. "Water scarcity, pricing mechanism and institutional reform in northern China irrigated agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 143-161, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8405-:d:858856. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.