The Optimisation of the Management of Agricultural Plastic Waste in Italy Using a Geographical Information System

The extensive and expanding use of plastic material in the Italian agriculture for several diversified application results in increased accumulation of plastic waste in rural areas. Unfortunately, only a part of the agricultural plastic waste is collected and recovered in a controlled way by the National Consortium “Polieco”, that has the task to collect, transport and direct them toward the mechanical recycling. In the present paper, the implementation of a Geographical Information System at regional scale is described, in order to contribute to the analysis of agricultural plastic waste production, flux, collection and disposal in Italy. The results enabled the analysis and planning of agricultural plastic waste fluxes, together with the possibility to investigate different development scenarios and to consider new planning strategies for the management of agricultural plastic waste.