## 1 Introduction  
In recent decades, agricultural production has significantly improved, thanks to the increase in land use for agricultural activities to feed growing populations, as well as to the implementation of new technologies [1]. However, it has also increased the impacts on the rural environment, as well as on the natural cycles of the ecosystem [2]. Among the most important of these factors, there is the growing use of new materials such as plastics, which allow for more efficient, easier, and cheaper agricultural productions. Polymers are employed in agriculture in several possible applications, from irrigation (pipes, tubes) to silage, crates, ropes, containers of chemicals for plant protection, etc. One of the most efficient applications is the use of plastic materials for crop protection, aimed to protect cultivations through the use of covers placed over plants while they are growing. The cover provides protection from adverse climatic factors, while at the same time increases yield and/or extends cropping season. In this sense, plastic covers can play a passive effect--protecting the crops from negative weather conditions, dust, animals, birds, insects, etc.--and, at the same time, an active effect, by exploiting solar radiation and realizing a more favorable environment for the cultivations. Plastic films are widespread for covering greenhouses, low and medium tunnels, and for soil mulching. Shading nets for greenhouses, or nets for the modification of the microenvironment, or for protection against hail and wind, are employed for a large variety of crops (horticulture, vineyards, orchards). Films and nets are also used in joint combination for the protection against virus-vector insects and birds as standalone cover or in connection with structures for the growing of horticultural and arboreal cultivations [3; 4; 5]. According to the most recent data, the consumption of plastics in agriculture has reached 1.7 million tons in 2017 in the EU [6], distributed mainly between greenhouse and tunnel films, nets, and mulch films. However, the use of plastics in agriculture generates serious environmental problems, such as those related to the mismanagement of large amounts of post-consumer material. Frequent plastic replacement generates large amounts of post-consumer materials [7]. For example, in the Mediterranean area, the lifetime of greenhouse plastic films varies from 3-6 months, for one cultivation season, to a maximum of 3-4 years depending mainly on material thickness and chemical additives [8]. This results in possible release of macro-, micro-, and nano-plastics in agricultural soil, surface and deep waters, air, crops, etc. In particular, microplastics are at the attention of scientists, because their presence and impact on the agroecosystems is not yet well understood and standards for quantification are still being studied [9; 10]. Many of these accumulations are due to Agricultural Plastic Waste (APW) which is often mismanaged--as it is improperly abandoned in landfills. APW is sometimes also illegally disposed of, since it is burned in open field, dumped along rivers or less-visible valley areas, or even buried in the agricultural soil. This inappropriate management of agricultural plastic waste produces huge environmental and economic problems, such as degradation of the ecosystem, soil and water contamination, release of toxic and air pollutants, contamination of foodstuffs, etc. [11]. This issue is now very much felt in the scientific community. In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many references to plastic pollution [12] and its effective use and reuse [13] are included. There are many alternatives to the use of plastics [14], but since it is still an experimental field, it is necessary to identify methodologies and practices for proper monitoring and management at local level. In this context, actions prior to post-use management of APW represent a key issue in order to implement sustainable planning methods for disposal and recycling.