UDC 631 ISSN 1848-4425

UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY OF OSIJEK
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF MARIBOR
AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE OF SLOVENIA
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING INSTITUTE GÖDÖLLÖŐ
CROATIAN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY

PROCEEDINGS OF THE
rd
43 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
O P A T I J A , C R O A T I A , 2 4 th - 2 7 th F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5

Actual Tasks on
Agricultural Engineering
 SVEUČILIŠTE U ZAGREBU AGRONOMSKI FAKULTET
ZAVOD ZA MEHANIZACIJU POLJOPRIVREDE
POLJOPRIVREDNI FAKULTET SVEUČILIŠTA U OSIJEKU
UNIVERZA V MARIBORU FAKULTETA ZA KMETIJSTVO IN
BIOSISTEMSKE VEDE
KMETIJSKI INŠTITUT SLOVENIJE
MAĐARSKI INSTITUT ZA POLJOPRIVREDNU TEHNIKU
HRVATSKA UDRUGA ZA POLJOPRIVREDNU TEHNIKU

AKTUALNI ZADACI
MEHANIZACIJE
POLJOPRIVREDE

ZBORNIK RADOVA
43. MEĐUNARODNOG SIMPOZIJA IZ PODRUČJA
MEHANIZACIJE POLJOPRIVREDE
OPATIJA, 24. – 27. veljače 2015.
 Izdavači Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Agronomski fakultet,
Published by Zavod za mehanizaciju poljoprivrede,
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Glavni i odgovorni urednik Igor Kovačev

Chief editor e-mail: ikovacev@agr.hr

Tehnički urednik Hrvoje Zrnčić

Technical editor

Organizacijski odbor Krešimir Čopec, Goran Fabijanić, Dubravko

Organising committee Filipović, Đuro Banaj, Rajko Bernik, Miran
Lakota, Tomaž Poje, Denis Stajnko

Znanstveni odbor Prof. dr. Ettore Gasparetto, IT; Prof. dr. Ivo
Scientific committee Grgić, HR; Dr. Viktor Jejčič, SI;
Prof. dr. Rameshwar Kanwar, US;
Prof. dr. Silvio Košutić, Chairman, HR;
Prof. dr. Nikolay Mihailov, BG;
Prof. dr. Milan Martinov, RS;
Prof. dr. Joachim Mueller, DE;
Prof. dr. Victor Roş, RO; Prof. dr. Peter
Schulze-Lammers, DE; Prof. dr. Daniele De
Wrachien, IT

ISSN 1848-4425

http://atae.agr.hr

Slika s naslovnice korištena je dobrotom dr. sc. Viktora Jejčiča, sina pok. autora Dušana
Jejčiča
Cover painting is printed by courtesy of dr. sc. Viktor Jejčič, son of late author Dušan Jejčič
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Svi radovi u Zborniku su recenzirani.

All papers in Proceedings are peer reviewed.

Radovi u Zborniku su indeksirani u bazama podataka od 1997.

Papers from the proceedings have been indexed since 1997 into databases:

Thomson Reuters: Conference Proceedings Citation Index and ISTP,

CAB International - Agricultural Engineering Abstracts.
43.
SIMPOZIJ UDC
AKTUALNI
502.5:574:628.5
ZADACI
MEHANIZACIJE
Izvorni znanstveni rad
POLJOPRIVREDE Original scientific paper

SWOT ANALYSIS AND LAND MANAGEMENT OF

PLASTIC WASTES IN AGRICULTURE
CARMELA SICA1, ROSA VIVIANA LOISI2, ILEANA BLANCO2, EVELIA
SCHETTINI2, GIACOMO SCARASCIA MUGNOZZA2, GIULIANO VOX2
1
School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Science -SAFE School,
University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
2
Dept. of Agricultural and Environmental Science DISAAT – University of Bari, via
Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy; giuliano.vox@uniba.it

ABSTRACT
Plastic materials are generally used for several agricultural applications and,
at the end of their lifetime, they produce high volumes of waste to be disposed.
A non suitable disposal system for agricultural plastic waste could induce
economical damages, negative effects on the natural landscape and on the agro-
ecosystem with loss of material or energy. Optimizing the processes of collection,
transport and final disposal, the agricultural plastic wastes become "secondary
raw materials", technically efficient and economically feasible, that can be re-
used for also other different applications. The problem of the management of the
plastic waste flux coming from agricultural activities is still far to be solved in
some Italian areas. In the present paper the management of agricultural plastic
wastes was evaluated by means of the SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportun-
ities Threats) analysis and the application of a Geographical Information System
(G.I.S). The methodology was applied to the municipality of Trani, in the
Barletta, Andria, Trani Province (BAT), in Apulia Region, South Italy. The
SWOT analysis was used to evaluate the whole process concerning the waste
management, the GIS methodology was used to quantify plastic wastes generati-
on on the land.
Key words: covering film, vineyard, G.I.S. methodology, agricultural waste
valorization

INTRODUCTION
The strategic contribution of plastic materials to the development of the agricultural
sector is testified by their increasing use, stimulated by a constant research of new polymers

43. Symposium "Actual Tasks on Agricultural Engineering", Opatija, Croatia, 2015.

745
 C. Sica, R. V. Loisi, I. Blanco, E. Schettini, G. Scarascia Mugnozza, G. Vox

and blends by the chemical industry, for crop protection, soil mulching, irrigation and
drainage, packaging during harvesting, transport, storage and sale of agricultural products
(Picuno et al., 2012; Espi et al., 2006; Vox et al., 2010). Innovative plastic films and nets have
enabled a significant increase of the productivity in protected cultivation in Italy as well as in every
Country in which the agriculture is most intensive with high value added. Apart from their diverse
use and contribution to a significant increase in productivity, the use of plastics causes high
quantities of post-consumer material that need to be disposed of in such way that it will not cause
negative effects on the landscape and the agro-ecosystem (Al-Maaded et al., 2012; Briassoulis et
al., 2012; Briassoulis et al., 2013; Briassoulis et al., 2014; Delbert and Hemphill, 1993).
The management of the plastic wastes is very expensive by the public authorities since the
farmers commonly use unacceptable disposal practices, ignoring the negative effects produced.
The complexity and continuing evolution of the Italian legislation and the non uniform legislation
across EU make the situation more complicated. Thus, in Italy only the 30 % of post-consumer
agricultural polyethylene (PE) is collected and recycled by the National Consortium “PolieCo”
(PolieCo, 2014).
The management of the agricultural plastic wastes (APW) could be taken more seriously
because they could produce new secondary raw material (Sica et al., 2012; Picuno et al., 2011;
Picuno, 2014) or even energy, considering that many polymers are recyclable and that the plastic is
characterized by an high heating value, since deriving from the fossil-oil (Delbert and Hemphill,
1993; Scarascia Mugnozza et al., 2012).
The management problem of the plastic waste flux, coming from agricultural activities, is still
far to be solved in some Italian areas as in the territory of the Barletta, Andria, Trani Province
(BAT), in Apulia Region, South Italy, which is an agricultural area typically suited for vineyards.
Nevertheless the local Authority of the BAT Province is interested to introduce
modernization actions for the farms in the area. This was discussed, together with other Italian
and Greek Partners, in the project “AWARD” (AWARD, 2014) in order to solve the diffused
problem of the APW mismanagement.
The aim of the present research was to carry out a study in order to evaluate the problem
of the agricultural plastic waste generation and management in the municipal area of Trani
in the BAT province. Preliminary a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats)
analysis was carried out in order to define the framework of the APW management in the
municipal area of Trani; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were pointed out.
Based on this analysis a Geographical Information System (GIS) was used in order to
define the waste generation points and the more vulnerable areas in the land. GIS was
chosen as suitable tool able to provide updated and detailed information to the decision
makers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The focus area of the research was the municipal territory of Trani, included into the
Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT), an Italian province in the north of the Apulia
Region (Fig. 1).
The SWOT analysis, commonly used in business management as useful tool in strategic
decision-making, can be used to improve waste management systems in urban areas

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 SWOT analysis and land management of plastic wastes in agriculture

(Srivastava et al., 2005), in industrial areas (Zamorano et al., 2011; Mbuligwe and Kaseva,
2006), and in protected areas (Scolozzi et al, 2014). In this research, the SWOT analysis
was carried out to analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding
the APW management in the municipal territory of Trani. By means of the SWOT analysis
it is possible to recognize the internal strengths and weakness of the collection and
management of APW in the research area, as well as the external opportunities and threats
that the local community potentially faces. Strengths, as internal elements and factors,
contribute to the achievement of the objectives; weaknesses, as internal structural
characteristics, hinder the attainment of the objectives; opportunities, as external situations,
must be used to minimize both internal weakness and external threats; threats, as external
unfavourable situations, trends or impending changes, might negatively affect the
achievement of the goals (Srivastava et al., 2005; Zamorano et al., 2011; Houben et al.,
1999; Zhang, 2012). SWOT analysis can be applied to identify action plans for the
implementation of waste management from the viewpoints of economic, ecological and
social sustainability (Srivastava et al., 2005; Zamorano et al., 2011).
A Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) is a suitable tool for the management of the
APW flux (Scarascia Mugnozza et al., 2008) thanks to its attitude in synthesizing complex
land relations (Toccolini, 1998). GIS is an effective computer tool able to collect, store,
retrieve, transform and display spatial data; it is possible to integrate and handle huge
amounts of data quickly (Rogge et al., 2008; Lee et al., 1999; Tortora et al., 2015). Data are
organized in layers which can be combined and integrated in order to produce useful
information about a region or a phenomena (Rogge et al., 2008; Lee et al., 1999).
In this paper the GIS–based planning instrument was used to evaluate agricultural plastic
waste generation over the land. Among all the used plastics, as a example, plastic wastes
generated in protected cultivation were evaluated. The attention has been focused on the
areas with vineyards because, among all the crops in the area of Trani, vineyards are
particularly identified as major contributors to the generation of plastic waste. Covered
vineyards use plastics for the covering system as well as for pipes and containers: one
square meter of vineyard covered with plastic films can produce up to 0.2 kg of plastic
waste, only for the covering film.
An adequate base map was chosen for finding the main agro-environmental and
infrastructural components characterizing the territory. The base map material used was:
• Regional technical map (CTR) at a scale of 1:5,000 and placed in the WGS 84 /
UTM zone 33N reference system, obtained from an aerial flight performed in 2006;
• Digital color orthophoto at a scale of 1:5.000 with a pixel ground resolution of 50
cm obtained from an aerial flight performed in 2011, placed in the WGS 84 / UTM
zone 33N reference system;
• Land use map of the Region of Apulia at a scale of 1:5,000 with legend complying
with the European CORINE Land Cover Changes Database and an extension to the
fourth level. This map derives from an orthophoto having 50 cm pixel, land use
polygons are based on the same geometric elements of the Regional technical map.
The information about the municipality boundaries and infrastructural components were
derived from the CTR. The ESRI ArcMap10 was used as GIS software.

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 C. Sica, R. V. Loisi, I. Blanco, E. Schettini, G. Scarascia Mugnozza, G. Vox

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of the application of the SWOT analysis are shown in Table 1. The Strengths
are the favourable natural environment, the presence of agricultural productive chains, good
road infrastructures, an active tourist area, the attitude of the population to collect
differentiated Solid Urban Waste and the possibility to collect homogeneous APW in the
municipal territory of Trani. The weaknesses are connected to the development of the
intensive agriculture and to the low diffusion of the biological agriculture, to the lack of
suitable facilities and of guidelines for APW management, and to the low level of
knowledge of the farmers. At the same time, Opportunities can be the increase of job
positions due to a good management of APW, the increase of Tourism demand with an
extension of the tourist season, the reduction of some transport, collection and cleaning
costs, the reduction of the use of non-renewable sources, the reduction of environmental
pollution. Threats have been identified with the lawmaking of new and complex rules, the
increase of the agricultural practices that use plastic materials, and the low level of
communication between local Authorities and farmers or Association of farmers.
Summarizing, the SWOT analysis contributed to achieve the followed aims:
• definition of optimized process of APW collection and treatment;
• generation of the conditions for a better awareness about the APW situation;
• spontaneous creation of new entrepreneurship in the field of APW management and
recycling.
The whole territory of the Province BAT could benefit of this SWOT analysis since the
results could affect the landscape and the social-economic conditions of the inhabitants,
with particular regard to farmers, collectors, transporters and recyclers.

Table 1 SWOT Analysis results for the municipal territory of Trani

STRENGTHS
Favorable natural environment. The territory is
flat, crossed by numerous superficial erosive
grooves, called “blades”; the coast is rocky, with
high and continuous cliffs. The north area is
characterized by many brackish water sources,
important natural habitat for many and different
animal and plant species. The Mediterranean
climate (hot and dry summers) promote bathing
tourism.
Presence of agricultural productive chains,
significant both for the quantity and the quality.
The municipal territory, as the whole Apulia
Region, is enumerated among the best and strong
agricultural Italian areas, benefiting by natural
and favorable resources, as the soil-climatic
characteristics; they allow a good development of
the typical Mediterranean cultivation: mainly
WEAKNESSES
Development of the intensive agriculture. One of
the environmental problems characterizing the
territory of Trani is connected to the agricultural
sector because the productive processes use high
amounts of plastics (from the nets to the covering
films, from the irrigation pipes to the agrochemi-
cal containers, etc.). These quantities are often
mismanaged and their disposal is not suitable
both for the health of the all living beings and for
the whole ecosystem, causing environmental im-
pacts, irreversible contamination of the air, soil
and groundwater, and economic damage.
Lack of suitable facilities. The lack of suitable
facilities contributes to making the environmen-
tal situation worse. The number of the ecological
platforms for first collection or storage is very
small. Most of them are not enough suitable and

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 SWOT analysis and land management of plastic wastes in agriculture
table grapes of high quality, widely marketed.
Road infrastructures. Trani is crossed with the
national road that allows fast connections both to
north (Barletta and Foggia) and south (Bari). It is
near to the motorway A14 Bologna-Taranto that
insures the long-distance connections on the
north-south axis. Provincial roads connect Trani
to the nearer municipalities. The transport of
APW could easily be performed from farms to
the ecological platforms and/or final disposal
centres.
Tourism. Trani is considered "town of the art"
due to its wonderful artistic and architectural
treasures (the famous cathedral on the sea and the
Castel of the Svevi’s dynasty, churches,
monasteries, valuable historical buildings and the
ancient tourist port) that recall its glorious age-
old history. The local Authorities are very
diligent to offer events, shows and demonstrati-
ons, many of which on the evaluation of the
typical products. The preserving of the rural
landscape and the environment improves the
quality of the offered goods and meets the
demand of the tourist.
Differentiated collection of Solid Urban Waste.
The collection of the solid urban waste is wides-
pread and practiced by citizens; consequently,
schemes of differentiated collection for the
APW, according their typologies (net, film,
container, etc.), could be considered and easily
practicable both by the local Authorities and
people/farmers. Economic incentives could also
be provided on APW.
Homogeneous streams of APW. The territory is
suited for viticulture; so the flows of the APW
are enough homogeneous and a good selected
collection is already upstream with reduction of
the selection costs. Transport costs may also be
limited since the transporters should go to the
right ecological platform and/or centres of final
disposal on the basis of the waste typology.
OPPORTUNITIES
Jobs. A good management scheme of the APW
may origin positive social results due to the
increase of job positions for every municipality
in Trani. There may be new jobs such as
authorized transporters that collect the APW
from the farms and bring them to the ecological
platforms. Other job positions could be related to
the staff working at the ecological platforms,
749
they do not have specialized personnel; therefo-
re, the APW cannot be subjected to the prelimi-
nary works (verification of the delivered waste,
differentiation of the waste typology, differenti-
ation of the polymers, washing, compacting,
shredding, etc.) in order to obtain optimal produ-
cts for the final disposal.
Low level of knowledge of the farmers. Farmers
have a low level of knowledge; they show little
attention to the updating and training in the
agriculture due to their high average age.
Lack of guidelines for APW management. Far-
mers have not any guidelines for APW manage-
ment; besides, they don’t often know very well:
1) the regulatory aspects (Community and Natio-
nal rules) which are always evolving and are
difficult to understand; 2) the damage occurring
to the living beings and to the whole ecosystem
if they don’t act according to the Italian Law in
force; 3) the authorized National Consortia for
the collection of waste agricultural plastics (Pol-
ieCo); 4) the heating value of plastics. Farmers,
unaware, deliver the post-consumer plastic films
to unauthorized personnel, increasing the illegal
waste trade towards Asian countries.
Low diffusion of the biological agriculture. The-
re is a low diffusion of the biological agriculture
in this area. In order to protect the crops by every
typology of pathogens and to sell them in very
well conditions, farmers unfortunately use large
quantities of agro-chemicals (insecticides, herbi-
cides, fungicides, etc.) that are contained and
commercialized in bottles, cans, bags realized
with plastic materials in the 90% of cases.
THREATS
Lawmaking of new and complex rules. Consid-
ering both, the continuous evolution of the rules
on agricultural waste isn’t always clear and strai-
ghtforward.
Increasing of the agricultural practices that use
plastic materials. The potential increasing of the
waste streams can be due to the change of the
land use, such as the greater diffusion of some
 C. Sica, R. V. Loisi, I. Blanco, E. Schettini, G. Scarascia Mugnozza, G. Vox

such as the operators for the reception and crops that require use of plastic materials (e.g.
weighing of the APW, specialized operators that Table grapes); the situation may further worsen
may inspect and validate the quantity and the for the failure adjustment by the farmers.
quality of the waste received (e.g. cleaning and Low level of communication between local Au-
differentiation). All that to improve the value of thorities and farmers or Association of farmers.
the waste. In fact, a “good quality” waste can The lack of synergy between local Authorities
origin a good new secondary material to send to (e.g. regional and municipal Departments of the
the correct final disposal. Some specialized Agriculture) and Associations, due to political
operators may attend training courses and update and economic interests, could only protract the
their knowledge on APW in order to transfer it to time to solve the problem and increase the
the farmers. environmental threats and the damages to the
Increasing of the Tourism demand. An optimal rural landscape and the health of each living
management scheme is indispensable because an being.
un-compromised or congested landscape by the
APW is more easily exploitable. The eligible
territory is rich both in rural heritage and in many
other constructions (castles, towers, churches,
etc.) of high architectural and historical value
therefore cultural and environmental paths can be
realized both in coastal and inland areas. In this
way, the territory becomes an attractive place for
the tourist "friend of the environment" to which
can offer quality products, typical for the area.
These products may be consumed on the
premises (farms) or bought, perhaps together to
the handmade product, causing social and econo-
mic positive consequences. This can be a suitable
alternative to the bathing and contemporary a
way to extend the tourist season.
Reduction of some costs (transport, cleaning), of
non-renewable sources use and of the environm-
ental pollution. The creation of an optimal mana-
gement and disposal system of the APW combi-
nes environmental protection and economic
needs. The enhancement of the wastes (by the
material and energy recovery) causes reduction
both of some productive costs and of the use of
non-renewable sources. At the same way, the
increase of the quantity of the recycled products
would cause a costs reduction of the productive
processes at the same time improving their
quality that will lead to their increasing demand
on the market.

The SWOT analysis showed that the area of Trani is suitable for the application of an
efficient waste management system. In the Trani municipality the land surface is equal to
10238 hectares of which the 85 % is the agricultural surface. The most common agricultural
practice in the region are the cultivation of olive trees (66%) and vineyards (14%).
Generation point of plastic waste (plastic films, nets, containers and pipes) must be

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 SWOT analysis and land management of plastic wastes in agriculture

preliminary localized all over the land; critical point of generation of APW are individuated
where crop protection is realized.
The data on the spatial distribution of the vineyards were obtained from the thematic
Land use map (Fig.1). Land use map gives information only about the presence of vineyard,
but no information about the coverage of the cultivation structure and on the kind of
covering material, i.e. plastic film or net is available. The implemented methodology of
territorial analysis, realized by means of a GIS, permits to geo-reference the crops
according to their typology and to make a further classification according to the presence or
not of a covering system, and to the covering material used (plastic film or net). This
methodology allows the data acquisition, otherwise hardly obtainable, on the use of plastic
materials in agriculture. Actually, the information obtained cannot be directly extracted
through the analysis of a land use map. Besides, it is not possible to easily collect them
through questionnaire based systems because of the low level of farmers knowledge and the
low level of communication between local Authorities and farmers or Association of
farmers, as pointed out by the SWOT Analysis.
A restricted area within the Trani municipality, characterized by a high density of
vineyards, was evaluated as case of study only for vineyards plastic waste generation (Fig.
2).

Figure 1 Land use map of the Figure 2 The area with high density of vineyards
BAT Province, Apulia Region cultivations.

A dedicated georeferenced database was created using the maps in a GIS environment
with the support of ESRI ArcMap10 software. The created database was, then, enriched
with more detailed data on spatial distribution and typology of vineyard, and on the plastic
films or nets employed for their cultivation; these data were obtained by the overlay
mapping of the above cited maps and by the parallel operation of photo-interpretation of the
web-mapping tool Google Maps 2014.
The results obtained by means of the photo-interpretation were validated through a series
of sample field inspections on the given vineyard area (Fig. 3). Figures 2 and 3 show that

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 C. Sica, R. V. Loisi, I. Blanco, E. Schettini, G. Scarascia Mugnozza, G. Vox

the selected area has wide surfaces of vineyard covered with plastic materials and, thus,
huge quantities of plastic materials are generated and need a suitable collection and
disposal.

Figure 3 Vineyards and covering materials for crop protection.

CONCLUSIONS
The methodology developed in the present research enabled the localization of the points
where huge quantities of agricultural plastic wastes are generated. Land use maps must be
integrated with ortophotos in order to obtain complete information. Further development of
the research should be addressed to quantify the generated plastic wastes, by using
available average plastic consumption values per hectare, in order to design an efficient
system of collection and disposal on the territory. The same methodology can be applied to
different kinds of agricultural plastic wastes, such as pipes and containers, by relating the
average consumption of plastic materials to the cultivated crop.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The contribution to programming and executing this research must be equally shared
between the Authors.
The present research has been carried out under the project “AWARD Agricultural
Waste valorisation for a competitive and sustainable Regional Development”, European
Territorial Cooperation Programme Greece-Italy 2007-2013, Contract n. I3.11.03.

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 SWOT analysis and land management of plastic wastes in agriculture

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