Orange waste is a precious resource. Peels and pulp can be transformed into a fertilizer capable of effectively fighting desertification, as demonstrated by the project carried out by a Sicilian company
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himEvery year tons of peels and other orange scraps they end up in the trash. But if properly reused, this waste can become a surprising resource, able to counteract even the desertification. This is not a science fiction project, in Sicily it is already a reality. The waste of the oranges Sicilian industrial waste, together with industrial sulfur waste, have become the protagonists of a very interesting project on which the company Sbs Steel Belt Systems Srl is working as part of a project, financed by the EU, which takes the name of Life Life RecOrgFert Plus.
From waste to precious resource
The Sicilian company Sbs Steel Belt Systems Srl deals with the design and construction of industrial stainless steel belt systems, but in recent times it has also been working on the creation of new eco-sustainable fertilizers. Last autumn the company managed to obtain funding from the European Union to convert citrus fruit and industrial sulfur waste into an environmentally friendly organic-mineral fertilizer, to be used as an alternative to polluting chemicals.
"Large quantities of sulfur recovered from the desulphurization of gas and oil, although partially reused in industrial applications, largely remains unused and ends up in landfills, thus representing a potential environmental threat" reads the site dedicated to the European project, which will last about 4 years.
Specifically to produce it they are used orange waste (peel and pulp) and industrial sulfur waste (obtained from the desulphurization of natural gas and petroleum), processed in special machinery. The fertilizer obtained can be subsequently used in very alkaline and dry soils in order to make them more fertile.
Read also: Electricity from waste in Seville: the juice of oranges dropped on the street will power buses and 73 homes
The ultimate goal of the project is to be able to produce 3000 tons of organic-mineral fertilizer. Thanks to this process, approximately 1320 tons of orange waste will be saved from the landfill and 24000 tons of sulfur will be recovered. Furthermore, the health benefits of the soil are extraordinary: according to the project promoters, there should be a 30% increase in crop yield on the land where the innovative fertilizer is used. The latter will be tested on approximately 27 hectares of land with various crops, spread over a total area of 27 hectares between Abruzzo, Calabria and the Greek city of Thessaloniki.
In some areas of the world, including Costa Rica, the use of orange waste - together with coffee waste - has already given surprising results in the fight against desertification in tropical forests. The time has come to invest more in the field of the circular economy to make environmentally friendly fertilizers instead of continuing to use chemicals that are dangerous for the environment and for health.
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Sources: Sbs Steel Belt Systems Srl / European Commission
Read also:
- Thus the waste of coffee and oranges can favor the recovery of tropical forests
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