Quantifying and Minimizing the Environmental Impact of Agricultural Plastic Mulch Film Burning
Project Description:
Agricultural plastic mulch film, a widely used plastic material for soil coverage to enhance crop yields, presents increasing issues in its waste management, where current disposal methods are insufficient to address these challenges (image below). The open burning of plastic mulch film, currently allowed in the State of Florida, could release harmful pollutants, posing risks to the environment and human health. This project aims to quantify and minimize the environmental impact of plastic mulch film burning through a series of controlled laboratory burning experiments. Samples of field-collected used plastic mulch film with entrained soils will be burned in a tube furnace reactor and an open burning reactor, and the emitted air and soil pollutants will be characterized by a set of online and offline instruments at the University of Miami and the University of Florida (image below). By simulating real-world burning conditions, the project will provide the properties and emission factors of environmental pollutants and compare them against current federal and state regulations. We will further identify combustion conditions (including burning temperature, burning duration, and method of burning) that could reduce the pollutant emission and minimize the environmental and potential health impacts. The findings will inform stakeholders about the environmental risks of open burning and provide evidence-based recommendations for agricultural plastic management practices. This research will contribute to better regulatory compliance, fostering economical agricultural practices, and addressing gaps in agricultural plastics management. The results obtained from this study will be used to seek additional support from federal and state funding agencies for more comprehensive studies of agricultural plastics and the development of sustainable approaches for managing and reusing agricultural plastics.
Project Participants:
- Yang Wang, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Miami, yangwang@miami.edu
- Sungyoon Jung, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, sungyoon.jung@ufl.edu
- Amir Sharafudin, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Miami, a.sharafudin@miami.edu
- Courtni Spencer, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Miami, cys25@miami.edu
Project Duration: September 2025 to August 2026
Technical Awareness Group:
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Name
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Title and Affiliation
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Sector
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Gene Jones
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CEO of Southern Waste Information eXchange
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Private
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Sam Sugerman
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Sustainability Manager in agricultural sector
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Private
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Samir Elmir
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Division Director, Florida Department of Health Miami-Dade Environmental Public Health and Engineering
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Public
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Nicholas Ciancio
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Chief of Resilience Engineering & Environmental Compliance, Department of Solid Waste Management
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Public
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Elizabeth Kromhout
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Environmental Administrator, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
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Public
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Linda Braam
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Engineer, Lee County Solid Waste Department
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Public
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Lisa Wasko DeVetter
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Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture, Washington State University
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Researcher
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Jiannan Chen
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Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida
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Researcher
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Project Documents:
May 2025: Project Presentation to the Hinkley Center Research Selection Committee
Funding Acknowledgement: Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management
