Environmental Assessment of Two Irrigation Systems in an Organic Tomato Crop System Under Manure Compost Fertilization: a Sustainable Circular Economy Approach in Catalonia (Spain)

Abstract

The circular economy is proposed as a promising strategy for both dealing with the current environmental issues and providing socio-economic benefits. The transformation of organic waste materials into a reusable product for crops is a way to contribute to the change from a linear economy to a circular model. Manure reuse as fertilizer is the most adequate option for the management of such material. This study aims to highlight the environmental impact assessment of two irrigation systems (i.e. integrated and dripping) of a tomato crop fertilized with manure compost and the integration of life assessment methodology with a circular economy. The life cycle assessment methodology was used to calculate the environmental impacts through the whole life cycle. Life cycle assessment is a methodology to assess the environmental performance of a product system in a circular approach. The research focused on the climate change impact category and the water applied to crops to know the effect on the yield of fruits. Overall, comparing two crop seasons, it was observed that a greater water supply contributed to higher yield fruit for the two irrigation systems studied. On the other hand, in regard to the environmental impacts, it was observed that the integrated system showed a better environmental performance than the dripping system for all categories assessed. Considering that livestock manure is transformed into organic fertilizer which is reintroduced into the agronomical system through the application to a tomato crop, a circularity indicator of 70% (organic fertilizer from the composting process × total mass of manure−1) was obtained in this agronomic system.