## 2 Materials and Methods
Identifying the PAs for each CT, such as covering and mulching films, plastic nets (crop protection, olive collection... ), irrigation pipes, plastic bags (fertilizers, peat storage... ), pesticides containers, support system accessories (mainly for vineyards), and seed plastic trays [21];
3. Creating several PWIs based on the CT (vineyard, olive grove, orchard, greenhouse, vegetable, nursery ornamental/vegetable, cereals) and the characteristics of the ap \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**Plastic Application** & **Useful Life Extension** & **Plastic Material** \\  & **1 st Scenario** & **Replacement 2 nd Scenario** \\ \hline Plastic films & Addition of 1 year & - \\ Mulching films & - & Biodegradable mulching films \\ Irrigation pipe lines & Addition of 5 years & - \\ Olive collection nets & Addition of 10 years & - \\ Anti-hail nets for vineyards & Addition of 2 years & - \\ Orchard nets & Addition of 2 years & - \\ Greenhouses shading nets & Addition of 3 years & - \\ Vineyard hooks & Addition of 1 year & - \\ Vineyard pole ties & - & Biodegradable ties \\ Vineyard pole caps & - & Recyclable non-plastic \\ Vineyard cigar drippers & Addition of 1 year & - \\ Vineyard block cruises & Addition of 2 years & - \\ Plastic seeding trays for & & \\ greenhouses and & - & Biodegradable seeding trays \\ open-field crops & & \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Scenarios changes in respect to real-time scenario; 1 st scenario based on the maximum useful life of the materials on the market; 2 nd scenario based on the use of materials not generating plastic waste. plied plastics (density, dimensions, useful life, application techniques) for the real-time scenarios and for the improved scenarios;
4. Assigning the actual and modified PWIs to their relative CTs on the land-use map by means of the calculator of the attribute table in QGIS software;
5. Realization of total APW maps in the study area for different scenarios by using QGIS software;
6. Evaluating the quantities of the total APW based on the utilized agricultural area in the different scenarios by using the database extract from the attribute table. For the calculation of the different PWIs, plastic properties such as the density of the plastic used and its thickness, as well as the lifespan of the material, were evaluated, based on the relationships from [PERSON] et al. [17] and [PERSON] et al. [18]. For instance, the PWI [kg ha\({}^{-1}\) yr\({}^{-1}\)] of the mulching films used in the study was obtained using the following equation:  
\[PWI_{mulching films}=\frac{\rho\cdot T}{years}\cdot F_{correction}, \tag{1}\]  
where \(\rho\) [kg m\({}^{-3}\)] is the density of the plastic used in the mulching films, \(T\) [m] is its thickness, _years_ is the duration of its life, and \(F_{correction}\) is the dimensionless correction factor used, based on the slope of the plastic material in relation to its coverage on the soil surface [18]. The sum of the PWIs for each PA related to the specific CT gives the overall PWI per CT.  
Maps were obtained starting from the data available due to the existence of the territorial information system of the Apulia Region [22]. For the base map, materials used were: the Google satellite images [23], the municipality boundaries, the land-use map, and the regional technical map of the Apulia Region. The maps created with QGIS software were placed in the WGS 84/UTM zone 33N reference system. Both the land-use map and the regional technical map consisted of several shapefiles which were merged to create only one which is clipped to the municipality boundaries of the area. The land-use map (updated to 2022) and the polygons (features or territorial units) of the technical map were used to extract information about the CTs distribution by using the categorizing tool in QGIS software. Google satellite images helped the identification of the nurseries both through the commercial addresses and by their shape. In this way, the area covered by each nursery was detected, and also its type (ornamental or vegetable), was identified.