Practice and Exploration of Scientific Recycling of Agricultural Plastic Film in Nanchong City

Chunlei PU, Yi WANG, Pan DING, Hongjiang WANG, Tianying JIANG

1. Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Nanchong City of Sichuan Province, Nanchong 637000, China; 2. Jialing Campus of Sichuan Agricultural Radio and Television College, 637900, China; 3. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Agricultural Machinery Technical Service Extension Center of Gaoping District of Sichuan Province, Gaoping 637100, China

Abstract Nanchong City is a major grain production city in Sichuan Province. The annual use of agricultural plastic film for grain and oil crop production and the amount of waste agricultural plastic film produced are very large. How to properly recycle agricultural plastic film and reduce the non-point source pollution of agricultural plastic film to agricultural environment has become an unavoidable subject of agricultural production in Nanchong City. In recent years, the scientific recycling of agricultural plastic film in Nanchong City has made great achievement. On the basis of statistical survey, this paper elaborated the main methods and results achieved, analyzed the existing problems, and came up with recommendations for the future work, in the hope of providing a reference for strengthening agricultural plastic film recycling in similar situations.

Key words Agricultural plastic film, Recycling, Methods, Recommendations

1 Introduction

According toNoticeoftheMinistryofAgricultureonPrintingandDistributingtheActionPlanforAgriculturalPlasticFilmRecyclingin 2017, the national agricultural plastic film recycling rate will reach more than 80%, and "white pollution" will be effectively controlled by 2020[1]. In 2020, theOpinionsoftheMinistryofEcologyandEnvironmentoftheNationalDevelopmentandReformCommissiononFurtherStrengtheningtheTreatmentofPlasticPollutionfurther clarified that it is prohibited to produce and sell polyethylene agricultural plastic film with a thickness of less than 0.01 mm[2]. Nanchong City is a major grain production city in Sichuan Province. The grain planting area is 559 000 ha, ranking first in Sichuan Province. The annual use of agricultural plastic film for grain and oil crop production and the amount of waste agricultural plastic film produced are very large. In such context, Nanchong Municipal Government and relevant departments have fully grasped the agricultural plastic film recycling work from various aspects such as propaganda and education, technology extension, and administrative promotion, and made effort to effectively reduce the disadvantages of waste agricultural plastic film on the rural residential environment and agricultural production environment influences.

2 Overview of basic situations of Nanchong City

The annual cultivated land area in Nanchong City is 302 000 ha, and the total planting area of crops throughout the year is 888 800 ha. The annual use of agricultural plastic film is more than 10 000 t. The weight of agricultural plastic film used in 2014-2016 was 11 600, 11 800, and 12 000 t, showing that he amount of consumption is increasing year by year, but the recycling rate remains around 70%. Since 2017, in response to the state requirement, Nanchong City has vigorously carried out the scientific use of agricultural plastic film and the recycling of waste film resources, fully improved the agricultural plastic film recycling system, innovated agricultural plastic film recycling mechanism, and introduced scientific recycling measures for agricultural plastic film. After several years, the use of agricultural plastic film has started decline, and the amount of recycling has gradually increased. According to the statistics of the survey, by the end of 2019, the total use of agricultural plastic film has dropped to 11 600 t, while the recycling has risen to 9 200 t, and the recycling rate has reached 79.3%, showing that the scientific use and recycling of agricultural film have realized considerable achievements (Table 1).

Table 1 Survey statistics on the use and recycling of agricultural plastic film in Nanchong City by the end of 2019

3 Work contents and achievements

3.1 Work contents

3.1.1Basic situation of use and recycling of agricultural plastic film. (i) Collecting and making statistics and finding out the basic data. It is required to collect basic data on the use and recycling of agricultural plastic films from the county’s agriculture, environmental protection and other relevant departments through form filling and information submission. (ii) Conducting survey and analysis to find out the basic situation. Through field survey and door-to-door visits, it is able to learn from farmers, recycling sites, and processing companies the problems and difficulties in the use and recycling of agricultural plastic film, and analyze the causes.

3.1.2Strengthening the administrative promotion. The use and recycling of agricultural film plastic require both technical guidance and administrative promotion, so strong administrative measures are essential. (i) Holding special meetings. The government should set goals and tasks, and make good work arrangements; the department clearly defines the division of responsibilities and pays close attention to work promotion. (ii) Issue notice and documents. The government should issue agricultural plastic film recycling plans, formulate work plans, issue agricultural plastic film recycling notices, and promote work.

3.1.3Launching the technology extension. (i) Extending both science and technology. From the full chain of agricultural plastic film, including scientific selection, correct coverage, timely recycling, effective use, it is necessary to carry out film side cultivation, timely film uncovering, mechanical film picking, resource treatment and other technical skills training guidance, promote the scientific use and recycling of agricultural plastic film. (ii) Promoting alternative products and technologies. It is necessary to introduce and use alternative products such as light and biodegradable mulch film[3], fiber cloth,etc. Besides, focusing on the adjustment of the structure of the planting industry and the reform of the farming system, it is necessary to vigorously carry out alternative technologies such as concentrated seedling cultivation, direct seeding of rice and straw mulching cultivation to reduce the amount of agricultural plastic film.

3.1.4Strengthening demonstration. (i) Building demonstration sites for agricultural plastic film use. Nanchong City has built a number of demonstration sites for the scientific use of agricultural plastic films in Yixing Town of Xichong County, Saijin Town of Yilong County,etc., focusing on the demonstration of new agricultural plastic film products, demonstrating new film covering technologies, and bringing an area with several points. (ii) Establishing a demonstration site for agricultural plastic film recycling. Relying on the establishment of high-yield and high-efficiency grain and oil production projects, Nanchong City has established more than one demonstration station for agricultural plastic film recycling in each county of the city, demonstrating new models and good experiences of agricultural plastic film recycling by areas and exploring innovative and suitable mechanisms suitable for local conditions.

3.1.5Reinforcing strict supervision and assessment. (i) The agricultural department takes the lead, and the environmental protection and finance departments participate in the establishment of the agricultural plastic film recycling work supervision team to carry out on-site supervision and inspection of the agricultural plastic film recycling work in key agricultural seasons and key projects, promptly investigate and deal with the problems, form deterrence, give appropriate rewards to the achievements, and form incentives. (ii) Reinforcing strict assessment. Nanchong City incorporated the agricultural plastic film recycling task assigned by the provincial government into the assessment of the municipal agricultural work targets, and included the agricultural plastic film recycling task arranged by the municipal government into the key points of the county-level year-end target assessment.

3.2 Work achievements

3.2.1Decline in amount of use of agricultural plastic film. Nanchong City promoted the "three cropping" and "new two cropping" planting models of 10 000 ha, rice direct seeding of 8 000 ha, and concentrated seedling raising of 700 ha in the whole city, which reduced the dependence of agricultural production on agricultural plastic film, so the overall consumption of agricultural plastic film declined. The annual consumption of agricultural plastic film in the whole city has dropped from 12 000 t in 2016 to 11 600 t at the end of 2019 (Fig.1).

Fig.1 Comparison of agricultural plastic film use and recycling results in Nanchong during 2014-2019

3.2.2More scientific use of agricultural plastic film. By the end of 2019, Nanchong City has promoted 38 000 ha of scientific film covering technology, and the proportion of plastic film uncovered in proper time reached 90%; during the implementation of agricultural projects, the use of agricultural plastic films with a thickness of less than 0.01 mm and a weather resistance of less than one year would be basically eliminated; farmers have gradually formed the habit of using the plastic film for multiple uses or reuse. In 2019, the recycled agricultural film will be reused for nearly 3 100 t, and the recycling rate would reach 1 050 t, and the utilization rate of waste agricultural plastic film resources would reach 45.1%.

3.2.3Gradual strengthening of recycling of agricultural plastic film. Nanchong City has established 2 demonstration sites for scientific use of agricultural plastic film, 1 841 agricultural plastic film recycling outlets, 15 demonstration sites for agricultural plastic film recycling, and 4 newly introduced agricultural plastic film recycling companies. The utilization rate increased from 8 500 t to 9 200 t, the recycling rate increased from 72.0% to 79.3%, of which the old film reuse rate reached 33.7%, the recycling rate reached 11.4%, which is only one step from the national agricultural plastic film recycling rate (80%).

4 Existing problems and recommendations

4.1 Existing problems(i) The use of ultra-thin plastic films has not been completely eliminated. The proportion of use of ultra-thin plastic films is still about 30% in Nanchong City. (ii) The use rate of degradable plastic film is extremely small. Because of the high cost and poor stability, farmers are reluctant to use degradable plastic film, and the use of degradable plastic film in Nanchong City is less than 10%. (iii) The enthusiasm for recycling of waste agricultural plastic film needs to be improved. The selling price of old and waste plastic film picked up by farmers is as low as 0.8-1.5 yuan/kg, so the enthusiasm for recycling is not high. In addition, enterprises cannot issue raw material input invoices for the purchase of waste plastic film, and need to pay higher taxes, which frustrated their enthusiasm. (iv) There is the problem of emphasis on the recycling of agricultural plastic films but paying little attention to the use of agricultural plastic films. The utilization rate of agricultural plastic film recovered is used for recycling or recycling is less than 50%. A large proportion is disposed as waste, so the environmental protection effect is greatly discounted.

4.2 Recommendations

4.2.1Improving the environmental awareness. It is recommended to take advantage of media, network and other platforms to promote the pollution hazards of waste agricultural plastic film and the significance of recycling[4]; adopt training, education and other methods to cultivate farmers’ awareness of the recycling of waste agricultural plastic film. Besides, it is recommended to improve the ideological quality of the farmers and awaken the public’s awareness of environmental protection.

4.2.2Strengthening the policy guarantee. Both the government and departments should increase financial input, strengthen policy support, improve the environmental protection compensation system, and improve the economic compensation system for recycling of agricultural plastic film. In the purchasing process, the government should provide subsidies for new products such as degradable films so that farmers can use them; in the recycling process, it is recommended to provide subsidies for labors, so that the people are willing to collect waste plastic film; in the utilization process, it is recommended to provide preferential taxation to companies, so that they are willing to collect.

4.2.3Strengthening mechanism exploration. Through action practice and experience summary, it is recommended to make effort to explore a set of scientific and reasonable agricultural plastic film recycling mechanism. It is recommended (i) to study and formulate agricultural plastic film use standards including agricultural plastic film thickness, tensile load and weathering resistance[5], to ensure the recycling ability of agricultural plastic film from the source; (ii) to explore strengthening legal sanctions and policy support means, fundamentally strengthen the recycling of agricultural plastic film; (iii) explore the use of new products such as degradable film, paper film and liquid film to reduce the residual of the plastic film.