August 18, 2025
Babbitt and Malarkey co-authored a study on plastics
Callie Babbitt, professor at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, and Katie Malarkey, a sustainability Ph.D. candidate, co-authored a study on plastics use in U.S. agriculture, published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling. The study, the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of plastics use in the U.S. agricultural sector, found that U.S. farmers use about 1.56 million tonnes of plastic annually, nearly 3 percent of the nation’s total plastics consumption. They identified the best opportunities to cut this plastic footprint through reuse, design, and alternative materials.