Olive mill waste management in Italy

The waste produced by the olive mill industry has been considered either as a polluting stream or a resource to be recycled. In Italy the law permits olive mill waste landspreading but some problems are still present due to some practical difficulties. An Italian Project studied the olive mill waste (OMW) under all the points of view and landspreading and composting were the technologies proposed to solve the problem. Machines for spreading wastes, milling technologies for reducing waste volumes, and composting plants were proposed for industrial applications. The recovery and production of high value compounds is another interesting industrial application. Polyphenols can be extracted and used as substitute of synthetic antioxidants. Microbial biomasses can be used to obtain enzymes and polysaccharides.