The African Press International had a fascinating article today on cleaning up the olive oil industry in Syria and surrounding countries. Processing olive oil involves crushing the olives and mixing them with tap water before separating out the dirty water and solid residue from the oil. Unfortunately, the dirty water is then discarded - often just pumped out or spread onto surrounding land. The waste water contains polythenols which give olives their color, but when spread in large quantities cause a reduction in soil fertility. Polyhenols can also leach into surface water harming aquatic life and making the water unfit for human consumption.
The reasons for contamination are mostly financial and lack of awareness by mill owners. These family run businesses use traditional presses and forgo equipment to clean the waste because they can't afford it. In addition, mill owners are unaware of the environmental impact to their own land, water sources and the wider environment.
But Syria, Jordan and Lebanon have a plan. Funded by the EU and UN, they have recently registered every mill in the region and educated owners about the impacts of spreading the waste onto land. Some mill owners have learned how to treat waste water and store it for collection. Others are storing the dried residue and selling it to factories who use it to make olive oil soap.
In September the program will trial a mobile waste water treatment plant so that owners who can't afford modern machinery to treat their waste water will have access.
Although some of the huge olive oil plants continue to pollute Syria's coast, people are becoming more aware of the problem and demonstrations have begun. All of these actions combined are definitely putting Syria on the path to a more sustainable olive oil industry. That's fantastic! Who knew...
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