OLinWASTE – Smart sustainable biorefining of olive mill waste into biocompounds for plant and soil health, bioplastics, and bioenergy

Background

The EU is the world’s top producer, consumer, and exporter of olive oil, accounting for around 67% of global output. Behind this success lies a growing environmental and economic challenge: managing the large volumes of waste generated during olive oil production. This waste—known as olive mill waste (OMW)—includes pomace, stones, and leaves, with up to 9.6 million tons produced annually in Europe alone. Current disposal methods, such as composting, landfilling, and specialized treatment, are costly and can account for up to 10% of total production expenses.

Improper waste management can lead to soil degradation, water pollution, and harm to local ecosystems due to the high content of organic compounds and heavy metals in OMW. With rising pressure to reduce chemical use and improve sustainability, OLinWASTE aims to create innovative solutions to turn this waste into valuable bioproducts—transforming a costly problem into a profitable opportunity.

Objectives

• Enhance the circularity and environmental sustainability of oil mills and biodigesters through an industrial symbiosis capable of transforming waste into biopesticides and biofertilizers
• Develop new processes to produce sustainable bio-based packaging
• Develop novel routes to tackle exhaust emissions from an olive mill waste-fed biorefinery by recovering heat and reducing noises and odours emitted to the environment
• Crete a system digital twin and online platform for multi-criteria assessment of the designated multi-component waste treatment system
• Transversal assessments of safety, environmental impacts, economics, and circularity in an olive mill waste-based biorefinery
• Spread a circular and sustainable culture in the olive mill sector, almost absent in the European and worldwide contexts

Partners

The OLinWASTE consortium consists of Sapienza University of Rome, Agrolio, University of Padova, ACIB, University of Burgos, Cranfield University, RISE Research Institute of Sweden, RISE Processum, University of Surrey and CLIC Innovation. CLIC supports the administration, as well as communication, dissemination, and exploitation of the project results.

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