Sustainable plasticulture in Chinese agriculture: a review of challenges and routes to achieving long-term food and ecosecurity

Highlights

● Macro-, micro- and nanoplastic pollution in agricultural soils threaten long-term crop production and environmental health in China.

● Resolving the existing issues with plasticulture in China requires holistic solutions that target plastic production, use and waste management.

● Mechanisms for change must focus on education, incentivization and the development of infrastructure to positively reinforce the procurement, management and disposal of agriplastics.

● The sustainable intensification of plasticulture in Chinese agricultural production systems is key to achieving long-term food and eco-security in China.

Abstract

Plastic pollution is global concern, affecting most aspects of global food production systems. Plasticulture, a practice used in agriculture to improve crop quality and quantity, among other factors, is a significant source of plastic pollution. This review examines the extent of plasticulture in China, the implications of the practice across decades of use and the legislative instruments used to resolve those issues. It briefly assesses the effectiveness of these policies and proposes possible future innovations to promote increases in long-term food and eco-security, where sustainable plasticulture is a key agent for change. While plasticulture has increased agricultural productivity in growth-limiting conditions, plastic pollution in agricultural soils has become acute in China. Consequently, plastic pollution is having deleterious effects on soil health and in turn, crop productivity in China. Plastic pollution in agriculture is a multifaceted issue and so proposed solutions should be informed by this complexity. Current measures do not reflect a holistic approach to solving this socioecological challenge and adopt a top-down approach, with little or no supportive mechanisms. Future recommendations need to consider the particular set of conditions that influence the production, use and end-of-life management of agriplastics, specific to the environmental, economic and social conditions in each location.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

circular plastics economy / crop production / food security / plastic pollution / sustainable plasticulture

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by BBSRC (EAA7536XS04) and Waitrose Agronomy Group as part of the Waitrose Collaborative Training Partnership. Waitrose and Partners contributed to the funding and development of this work.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Samuel J. Cusworth, William J. Davies, Martin R. Mcainsh, Carly J. Stevens, and Weilu Wang declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2023. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)