Not So Green Houses
Source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149573/not-so-green-houses
Greenhouses aren’t the only way that farmers use plastic. When draped over rows of crops, thin sheets of plastic mulch are often used to protect plants from pests and weeds, as well as reduce the water needed for irrigation. By one estimate, plastic mulches cover as much as 13 percent of China’s farmland, making the country the largest user of agricultural plastic in the world. The global demand for agricultural plastic is expected to swell in the coming years, increasing from 6.1 million metric tons in 2018 to 9.5 million metric tons by 2030, according to the report authors.