but what happens to all the residue you get after processing olives?
our oil mill presses olives using the cold processing method (below 28 degrees) and, in addition to the raw material, each mill also produces this waste:
-
sewage. The olives are washed before being pressed. The water obtained from washing the olives is greyish in colour and contains grains of sand or earth.
-
sewage. They are produced in the phase of milling, they are constituted from the water contained in the olive and from that which can be added during the workmanship. They have a brown color when just produced, then they will become of black color and dense, with a very strong smell of oil.
-
pomace. They are nothing more than what remains of the olives after pressing and the fragmented stones. All the pomace produced during the processing of the olives is moist, brown in colour and similar to grains of earth.
Destination of residues
ARPAT is the body that supervises and controls the management of waste from the moment of its production. This can take place in different ways, therefore, choices made by the producer, who must act in a clear way in compliance with the regulations of the sector.
Wastewater only Washing-up liquid may be discharged into the public sewerage system, or into surface waters.
Wastewater only Washing-up liquid may be discharged into the public sewerage system, or into surface waters.
Alternatively, the washing waste water can be collected with the sewageand destined for agronomic use (i.e. dispersed in agricultural land). The law 574/1996 allows the agronomic use of sewage and wet pomace and lays down the conditions, methods and prohibitions for spreading on land.
For pomace their use turns out to be different: in fact, those with lower humidity are delivered to the sansifici that complete the olive processing chain, while the more humid ones are used in agricultural land.