The end-of-season bill
Plastic Mulch Removal Cost: Labor, Disposal & Soil Impact
The roll price is the cheap part. Pulling plastic mulch out at the end of the season takes an estimated 8–11 labor-hours per acre, and one university budget itemized it at roughly $116 per acre in removal labor plus about $50 per acre to landfill it — before you count what stays behind in the soil.
The job growers hate most
Ask a grower which task they would happily never do again, and pulling plastic mulch is near the top of the list. At the end of the season the film has to be lifted, rolled, and carried off every bed — by hand on smaller operations, by machine on larger ones — and it rarely comes up clean. It is slow, it competes with the next planting for labor, and it is the part of the plastic-mulch system that never shows up when you compare roll prices.
Labor and equipment cost per acre
The clearest way to see the real cost is in an extension budget. University of Tennessee work on the economics of mulch films puts removal and disposal of conventional polyethylene mulch at roughly 8 to 11 labor-hours per acre.[1] A University of Georgia Extension budget itemized the job at about $116 per acre in removal labor plus around $50 per acre to landfill the film.[1]
Those are example figures, not a universal rate — your real number depends on crop, bed length, region, wage rates, and whether you lift by hand or with a retriever. That is exactly the calculation the savings calculator runs for your own operation.
The disposal reality: landfill, not recycling
Once the plastic is off the field, the options are narrow. In theory agricultural film can be recycled; in practice it almost never is. Used mulch comes off so heavily contaminated with soil, moisture, and plant debris that cleaning it for a recycler is uneconomical, so the great majority of removed plastic mulch is landfilled or burned.[1] A typical acre contributes an estimated 100–120 lb of plastic to that waste stream every season.[1] Landfill tipping fees and the cost of hauling it off-farm are the second half of the bill the roll price never shows.
What stays behind: microplastics
Even careful removal leaves something behind. Plastic film tears as it is lifted, and the fragments that stay in the field do not disappear — they break down into microplastics that accumulate in mulched soil and persist for years. A long-term field study tracked rising microplastic abundance across three decades of plastic-film mulching.[1] Once present, these particles can alter soil structure, water-holding capacity, and microbial activity — the properties that quietly drive fertility and yield.[1]
The alternative: tilled in, not pulled out
Soil-biodegradable mulch film is designed to do the in-season job of PE plastic — warming soil, holding moisture, and suppressing weeds — and then be tilled into the field, where soil microbes break it down into water, CO₂, and biomass. There is no lifting, no hauling, and no landfill line item. The cleanup season simply goes away. For the mechanism, see how biodegradable mulch film works.
The honest caveats
Switching is not free. Biodegradable film usually costs more per roll than PE plastic, and field performance can vary — films are designed to start breaking down, so they can show wear before the season is fully over. The fair way to judge it is total cost per season, where the removal and disposal you eliminate are weighed against the higher roll price; for many operations the labor and disposal savings offset much or all of the difference, but it is a calculation, not a guarantee. The biodegradable vs. plastic comparison lays the two cost structures side by side.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to remove plastic mulch per acre?
Can you recycle used plastic mulch?
Does plastic mulch leave microplastics in the soil?
Do you have to remove biodegradable mulch film?
References
- 1.Velandia, M. et al. The Economics of Adopting Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films. University of Tennessee Extension (8–11 labor-hours/acre to remove and dispose of PE mulch). Link
- 2.Fonsah, E.G. & Shealey, J. (2019). Estimated Cost Per Acre of Removing and Replacing Plastic Mulch. University of Georgia Extension (removal labor ≈ $116/acre; landfill disposal ≈ $50/acre). Link
- 3.USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Biodegradable Mulch Film Petition (estimated 100–120 lb/acre of petroleum-based mulch waste landfilled per season). Link
- 4.University of Tennessee. Plastic Mulch in Fruit and Vegetable Production: Challenges for Disposal — used PE mulch is heavily contaminated with soil and plant debris, making recycling largely impractical, so most is landfilled or burned. Link
- 5.Li, S. et al. (2022). Macro- and microplastic accumulation in soil after 32 years of plastic film mulching. Environmental Pollution, 300, 118945. Link
- 6.de Souza Machado, A.A. et al. (2018). Impacts of Microplastics on the Soil Biophysical Environment. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(17), 9656–9665. Link
- 7.Withana, P.A. et al. (2025). Biodegradable plastics in soils: sources, degradation, and effects. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (RSC). Link