Valutazione ambientale del pretrattamento di rifiuti in polietilene da attività agricole

This study aims to quantify the environmental impacts associated with the recovery of polyethylene (PE) sheets and tubing used in the agricultural sector. The final intent is to identify the most impacting phases for which defining priority actions.The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is used according to the reference international standards, with a "from cradle to gate" application. The declared unit of the study is the pretreatment of 1 t of mixed PE from agricultural activities up to packaging and transport to subsequent treatment processes. The method used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts is the CML-IA baseline method.The study allowed to quantify the impacts associated with the different phases and to identify the phases most responsible for the impact. The results show that the most significant contributions are associated with the transport of waste, both at the entrance to the pretreatment plant and towards the plants where further recovery phases take place. Another significant contribution is given by the consumption of iron straps for packaging