GIS based-model to locate and quantify agricultural wastes for sustainable building components: plastic films and sheep wool fibers

Nowadays, the interest for environmental sustainability, energy, and efficiency constructions, generally known as Green Buildings, it is strongly increasing. Procedures adopted for Green Buildings are often based on both the reduction of environmental impact of buildings and the improvement of human and animal wellness. This study stems from the need to reuse agricultural wastes (AW) for producing sustainable materials to be used for the construction or renovation of rural buildings. Since a sustainable reuse of AW depends on their availability and geographical location, a methodology was put forward to locate and quantify the wastes considered in this research study i.e., plastic films used for protected crops and sheep wool. By using a Geographical Information System (GIS), land use analysis was carried out in an area with the highest concentration of protected crops in Italy (Ragusa province). A suitable index for computing Agricultural Plastic Wastes (APW) was chosen from literature. Furthermore, by using data supplied by National Zootechnical Registry, a dedicated GIS model was developed to localize and quantify sheep and breeder’s sheep in Sicily. This first part of the research provides basic information useful for planning tailored collection centers as near as possible to those areas where these wastes are highly produced by minimizing the environmental impact due their localization.