Obtaining the value of waste polyethylene mulch film through pretreatment and recycling technology in China

Polyethylene (PE) mulch film has been widely used in agricultural production. However, the residual PE mulch film fragments in the soil can cause severe pollution, affecting the quality of agricultural products and even the stability of the ecological environment. Moreover, PE mulch film has high calorific value and thermoplasticity, so recycling is necessary. This review provides an overview of the current pretreatment and recycling methods for waste PE mulch film, cites application examples from plastic recycling enterprises, and offers suggestions for future research directions. In the pretreatment technology, the research status of mechanical collection with high efficiency and mechanical collection with pretreatment function was summarized, and the advantages and disadvantages of different collection machines were pointed out. In the treatment technology, several technologies’ advantages, disadvantages and research progress, including incineration, thermal pyrolysis, direct regranulation and modified regranulation, were summarized. It points out that improving the degree of resource recycling and optimizing the quality of recycled products is the key to reuse. In summary, this review points out that the research on collecting and recycling waste PE mulch film requires joint efforts in raising collecting awareness, promoting resource recycling technology, preventing secondary pollution, and making positive contributions to agricultural production and ecological environment protection.