Olive tree cultivation waste recycling

The growing human population and urbanization led an increase in agricultural waste, whose management practices differ for developed and developing nations and for urban and rural areas. Decrease total waste by recycling of refuse, by extracting phytochemicals or organic molecules to use as functional material or energy carrier are some methods used to reduce the problem of their disposal. During the harvesting and fabrication process of olive fruits, twenty-five kilograms of twigs and leaves per tree and 30 million m3 of olive mill wastewater are produced annually in the Mediterranean area. The olive processing wastewater is not easily biodegradable and needs to be detoxified before it can properly be used in agricultural and other industrial processes. In this work phenolic content and antioxidant value of pomace oil, wastewater and olive tree leaves were evaluated to offer sanitary living conditions to decrease the amount of waste that arrives or exit from the society and encourage their reuse within the society. Moreover, the nutraceutical properties of an herbal tea, made from olive leaves, has been evaluated.