Plastics used in agriculture and for food (INRAE-CNRS)
Commissioned and funded by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the Ministry of Ecological Transition, this collective scientific expert review conducted by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) and the CNRS aims to provide an overview of the scientific knowledge pertaining to the use of plastics in agriculture and food, their properties and impact throughout their life cycle, and their interrelation as part of an eco-conception approach.
The use of plastics has developed since the 1950s due to their highly interesting properties. However, since they are not (or are not very) degradable, and are therefore very persistent in the environment, plastic waste accumulates across trophic levels.
The public policies currently in effect or under preparation present ambitious objectives in terms of changes in the use and recycling of plastics. However, detailed knowledge of their uses–in addition to their properties, impact, composition, and methods of production–is needed to determine what could be banned, reduced, promoted, collected, and recycled as efficiently as possible. These questions are especially relevant to the agricultural and food sectors, which represent nearly half of the plastics used in France.
Commissioned and funded by ADEME, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the Ministry of Ecological Transition, INRAE and the CNRS are conducting a collective scientific expert review to take stock of the current scientific knowledge regarding the use of plastics in agriculture and food, their prospects for evolution, and the properties required based on these uses. This expert review will focus on the scientific literature in order to characterize the properties of these plastics based on their composition, doing so over the course of their life cycle. It will highlight their environmental impact on the continent’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, in addition to their impact on health. It will analyse how compromises relating to the expected properties of these plastics can be integrated within an eco-conception approach, and in conformity with health standards. It will be based on a review of regulations, with an emphasis on the use of plastics in Europe.
INRAE and the CNRS will ensure that the principles of competence, independence, impartiality, and transparency are adhered to in the completion of this collective scientific expert review.
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