LIFEOLEICOPLUS project, putting information at the service of the olive sector
Europe dominates the international olive market by growing more than 70% of the world’s olives. The Main producers of olive oil are in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. Due to the dimension and the relevance of this sector, the EU has undertaken several actions aiming to decrease the environmental impact of olive cultivation and olive oil production especially in terms of waste generation, soil, air and water pollution, and finally by supporting research and technological innovation. However, the innovation of the European olive sector is difficult to achieve due to the long-standing practices, conservative familiar hierarchies and the traditional rural character. In this context, the LIFE project Oléico+ has started its activities with the aim to foster innovation in the olive sector, identified as main problem due to the lack of information and communication among stakholders involved in the olive sector, internationally and between regionally within the same Country. To quote Aristotle "Nature does nothing in vain", hinting indirectly to the potential value of the agro-industrial residues and it was elected to be the message of the European Olèico+ campaign. Four national awareness raising campaigns were arranged in Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal after having carried out preparatory actions aiming at selecting the Best Available Technologies and preparing the informational material. By using the same protocol in terms of basic information and supporting documents, 52 consultations and 50 meetings were organised with stakeholders and entrepreneurs respectively; national and regional legislation, incentives for putting in operation the innovative technologies and agreements for arranging meetings were the main topics discussed with stakeholders. Conversely, the environmental impact of the careless disposal of the olive mill residues, the law in force and a thorough presentation of the technologies previously selected were extensively examined during meetings with the olive mill owners. The European campaign has been monitored in terms of number of realised plants, signed contracts and displays of interest: although some plants were constructed or are under construction especially in Italy, the number of displays of interest has largely exceeded the figures foreseen in the proposal. This result means that barriers between the purpose of the entrepreneur to invest and the investment itself definitely exist; since the processes introduced during the campaign do not have technological barriers, economic and legislative reasons should be addressed. In fact, it is reasonable to believe that an improvement of the current legislation in both waste/by-products definition and authorization procedures of alternative processes could strongly foster the innovation in the olive mill waste management. Moreover, regarding the economic barriers, even crucial, they bind strictly with the legislation and with the legal definition of the olive mill residues. In this regard, a thorough evaluation of the national and European legislations was carried out by ISRIM with the collaboration of all the partners and discussed in documents containing national and European policy recommendations sent to the National Authorities and to the European Commission. In conclusion, Oléico+ project not only has given a contribution in selecting the Best Available Technologies and thereby informing final user about innovative eco-friendly technologies, but especially in identifying and analysing one of the most important barrier to the innovation, namely policy and legislation.
Countries
Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal