P. Picuno and C. Sica. “Mechanical and Spectroradiometrical Characteristics of Agricultural Recycled Plastic Films”. Agricultural Engineering International: the CIGR

The increasing use of plastic materials in agriculture, particularly for protected cultivation, creates at the end of their use a large amount of plastic waste that, if not correctly managed, can produce negative effects on the landscape and on the whole ecosystem; mechanical recycling appears on the other hand one of the more suitable processes for a sound disposal of agricultural plastic films. This paper reports first results of a research project that investigates the possibility to mechanically recycle post-consume agricultural plastic films for the production of new regenerated film. Three different recycled films have been produced, characterized by mechanical tests and spectroradiometrical analysis, and compared to virgin LDPE films. The results show that all these recycled films have worse properties than the virgin material, so confirming that, without improvements in the formulation of blends and additives, the recycling of agricultural film into new regenerated film for agricultural application would remain a solution not interesting from a technical and economical point of view.