A recent conversation with experts on agricultural plastics pollution highlighted the urgent need to raise awareness, implement effective policies, invest in recycling infrastructure and scale practical alternatives.
The June 2025 “Tackling Agricultural Plastics for A Circular Future” webinar – hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the GEF-FARM project, in partnership with One Planet Network and the International Ecosystem Management Partnership – featured three speakers who explored key issues, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and microplastic detection in soil.
This article highlights the main takeaways from their discussion.
Key issues
- Plastics in agrifood value chains are widely used for protective cultivation, nets, fodder conservation, crop and food packaging, and other purposes, and play an important role in enabling better management of agricultural production and increasing productivity.
- As global agricultural plastic usage is projected to rise by 50% by 2030, it is important to understand the associated environmental, social and economic risks and challenges.
- Most agricultural plastics can persist in the environment even after being discarded, leaving soils, crops and eventually food contaminated. Microplastic accumulation in soil is increasing year by year, with studies suggesting that soil plastic contamination levels could already surpass those of ocean plastics (although there is limited data on estimates of the stock of microplastics in soils globally).
- Lack of comprehensive data is a significant barrier to the sustainable management of agricultural plastics, as many countries do not collect or publish data on plastic production, consumption, trade, waste generation, or collection rate.
- There is an urgent need for systemic solutions to manage plastics sustainably, including better data collection, targeted policy interventions and support for technological innovation. Without large-scale solutions, agricultural plastics will remain a major contributor to overall plastic pollution.
Learning from France and the EU: the EPR industry model
France's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme coordinates the collection and recycling of all agricultural plastic waste – from mulching films to pesticide containers – through producer-funded contributions and support from cooperatives, distributors and manufacturers. With 8,000 drop-off points serving 300,000 farmers, the programme achieves a 79% collection rate and recycles 90% of collected materials, demonstrating that large-scale agricultural plastic management is possible.
Key success factors include piloting programmes, stakeholder engagement, technical assistance and early financial planning for farmers and businesses. Farmer participation in governance helps tailor solutions to diverse agricultural sectors. Differing plastic types and collection methods require specific handling and business models, while producer commitment to integrating EPR into their operations underpins the system’s financial and operational sustainability.
Navigating international regulations adds complexity to implementation. Despite overarching EU frameworks, EPR requirements differ widely across member states – waste classification, transport rules and treatment methods all vary. This fragmentation hinders technology transfer and cross-border replication, highlighting the need for adaptable, context-specific solutions.
Innovation in plastics detection: advancement from China
The webinar highlighted the need for R&D to drive innovation in managing agricultural plastics. In China, researchers are testing a method to detect microplastic accumulation in paddy soils using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Early results show promise for this technique as a screening tool for polyethylene (PE) pollution, enabling ecological risk assessments and guiding soil remediation strategies.
The method also offers site-specific insights; for example, understanding how humid areas show more intense microplastic signals compared to dry areas, suggesting that environmental conditions dramatically influence plastic persistence. Such discoveries could help farmers understand how local conditions affect plastic degradation rates.
This technology has the potential to transform how the industry approaches plastics contamination assessments. Making such tools accessible to extension services and farming cooperatives could enable data-driven management decisions and support the development of site-specific mitigation strategies.
What's ahead
Agricultural plastic issues demand multi-faceted responses that go beyond simple waste management. The experiences shared in the webinar demonstrate that effective solutions exist, but they require adaptation to local conditions, sustained investment and collaborative approaches that bring together diverse expertise. An enabling environment needs to be created to incentivize the uptake of more sustainable products and alternatives, and better management of agricultural plastic waste to reduce pollution.
Ongoing data gaps highlight the need for continued research and knowledge-sharing to advance innovative design and sustainable practices. These efforts can foster connections and collaboration among farmers, manufacturers, researchers and policymakers.
We thank Ravinder Kumar (University of Greenwich), Pierre de Lépinau (Agri-Plastics and EPR Expert), and Zhen Li (Nanjing Agricultural University) for sharing their expertise. This session was part of the webinar series Advancing the Transition to a Pollution-Free Agrifood Industry through Circular, Regenerative and Bioeconomy Approaches. Both the activity and the article are part of the FARM Knowledge Series, an initiative of the GEF-Financing Agrochemical Reduction and Management (FARM) Programme to share knowledge and advance solutions for managing agrochemicals and agricultural plastics.
Access the webinar and the materials presented here.