This project supports the transition towards a more sustainable and circular use of plastics in agriculture and horticulture. This objective is met by the development of five new circular plastic products, testing of their functionality during use and end-of-life, and quantification of their impact on sustainability and circularity. New biobased and biodegradable materials will be used to develop and test prototypes for cultivation pots, tree protectors, plant plugs and turf netting. In parallel the project will also target to find solutions for issues that currently limit the effective implementation of biobased and biodegradable plastics such as the effect of contaminants on recycling and quantification of biodegradation for products used in the open environment.
The collective knowledge gathered and results obtained in the project will be used to expand the WUR decision
support tool for plastics in agriculture and horticulture.

The objective of this project is to support the transition towards a more sustainable and circular use of plastics in agriculture and horticulture. This objective is met by the development of five new circular plastic products, testing of their functionality during use and end-of-life, and quantification of their impact on sustainability and circularity.

This project will make a substantial contribution to mission 4 (Duurzaam en gewaardeerd Voedsel, dat gezond, toegankelijk en veilig is) and more specifically innovation programme 4F (Meervoudige verwaarding vanaf de agrifoodsector naar food en non-food) of the KIA. The main goal of this innovation programme is to maximize the valorisation of biobased feedstock and make sure that they contribute to a circular an biobased society. To achieve this goal it is crucial that biobased plastics are designed for both optimal functionality and end-of life.
Plastic products used in agriculture and horticulture are typically made from fossil based resources and have a non-circular end-of-life scenario as they are incinerated, end up in lower quality products, or contribute to (micro)plastic pollution. This project aims to develop and test five biobased plastic product prototypes (cultivation pots, tree protectors, turf harvest netting and plant plugs which can subsequently be upscaled and implemented in the market in the years after project completion by the respective industrial partners. In this way a number of fossil based products will be replaced by biobased alternatives which directly contributes to the subprogramme 3 of innovation programme 4F. The actual contribution to climate change mitigation and increase in circularity of the developed products will be quantified in WP4.3 of the project.
Furthermore, the project will also contribute to subprogramme 4 of the innovation programme that strives for a circular bio-economy with life after end-of-life. This will be realized by the prototype products which will be designed for optimal functionality and end-of-life and will subsequently result in optimized recycling strategies for products that can be sorted and collected (cultivation pots) and the prevention of accumulation of (micro) plastics in the environment of products that cannot effectively be recycled (turf harvest netting, plant plugs and tree protectors). For plastic cultivation aids that have biodegradation as the most optimal end-of-life route, materials will be developed that match the growing time of the respective crop (biodegradable by design). In order to achieve this, the project will use existing and expand the knowledge on the relation between polymer structures and biodegradation.

The project will have the following deliverables:
• Development and field testing of a biobased and biodegradable prototype cultivation pot (D1)
• Development and field testing of a biobased and biodegradable tree protector prototype product (D2)
• Development and field testing of a biobased and biodegradable prototype plant plug (D3)
• Development and field testing of a biobased and biodegradable prototype grass cultivation aid (D4)
• Public research articles (academic and popular) on the impact of contaminants on the recycling of
plastic products in agri- and horticulture (D5)
• Public report on strategies and recommendations how to deal with long-term testing and certification of biodegradable products (D6)
• An extended decision support tool that aids growers and farmers in their ambition to increase the sustainability of their cultivation processes (D7)