AWARD

Project title: Agricultural WAste valorisation for a competitive and sustainable Regional Development – AWARD
Website: http://www.award-project.eu/
Sub-title: Implementation of technologies of sustainable production and disposal of agricultural plastic waste and promotion of new businesses creation in the field of agricultural waste collection, management and re-use
Programme: Cross-border European Territorial Cooperation Programme “Greece-Italy 2007-2013”
Programme website: http://www.greece-italy.eu/

The growing use of plastics in agriculture provides to the farmers increased yields, earlier harvests, less reliance on herbicides and pesticides, better protection of food products and more efficient water conservation. However, this generates ever increasing amounts of plastic waste in rural areas or in areas of high concentration of agricultural activities that can impede the sustainability of the agricultural development. Besides, agricultural plastic materials if mismanaged cause serious environmental problems as they are burned in the fields or buried in the soil or disposed in the open field causing pollution of ground waters and irreversible contamination of soils and health safety problems to the consumers. In addition, these illegal practices result in the waste of valuable oil based plastic materials.