Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies the integrated management of agricultural plastic products with agronomic performance.

This document gives guidance and requirements for their installation, use, removal, sorting, collection and preparation for recycling as well as general guidelines for design for recycling.

NOTE 1 EN 13206, EN 13207, EN 13655, EN 14932 and EN 17098­1 include a specific clause dedicated to design for recycling.

NOTE 2 Design for recycling for products not covered by a standard is detailed in this document.

This document first aims professional users and can be used also for domestic purposes.

This document is applicable to:

— covering films that comply with EN 13206 or with specifications laid out by the film manufacturer/supplier, used for covering greenhouses, small tunnels or livestock buildings, as well as to direct crop covers used for semi­forcing plants and seed;

— silage films for horizontal silos that comply with EN 13207 or with specifications laid out by the film manufacturer/supplier; 

— sheaths for horizontal silos (forage crop and grain storage) that comply with EN 13207 or with specifications laid out by the sheath manufacturer/supplier;

— stretch films for wrapping bales that comply with EN 14932 or with specifications laid out by the film manufacturer/supplier;

— thermoplastic mulching films that comply with EN 13655 or with specifications laid out by the film manufacturer/supplier;

— barrier films for agricultural and horticultural soil disinfection by fumigation that comply with EN 17098­1;

— nets and twines for catling and horticulture that comply with the specifications laid out by EN ISO 4167 or by the manufacturer/supplier;

— flexible ducts, semi­rigid and rigid pipes and fittings for irrigation that comply with ISO 8779, EN ISO 9261, ISO 13460­1, ISO 16438, EN 14267, EN 12324­2, EN 13635, EN 13997 or with specifications laid out by the manufacturer/supplier;

— fabrics and non­woven nets and sheets for catling and horticulture that comply with ISO 9073 series or with specifications laid out by the manufacturer/supplier. This document does not cover construction, packaging and food­contact products.

NOTE 3 For products non­suitable for recycling in the context of this document, specific procedures apply

Purpose

EN 18109 has been developed in the framework of the Standardisation Request M/584 (“Plastics Recycling and Recycled plastics”), within a very tight timeframe. For this reason, the published document could be improved.

The revision of EN 18109 will enable the addition of a new formula on soilage coefficient, the inclusion of a new table describing design for recycling criteria for twines (equivalent to the existing table for nets), a complete review of the section on products for irrigation with CEN/TC 155, an improvement in the quality of the document and the correction of a few mistakes. A draft revision is providing with track changes and comments as a proposal.