Implementation of GIS technologies for planning the valorisation of agricultural waste: the TANGO-Circular Project

The volume of waste produced by agricultural activities is constantly rising, due to the continuous increase of crop and livestock production, aimed to cover the nutritional needs of the accreting population of the Planet. According to recent estimations, the total amount of waste produced in the whole EU by the agricultural sector during the period 2010-2016, has been around 18.4 billion tons, which represents an average of 2.6 billion tons/year. This number is slightly exceeding the amount of waste from all other sectors combined. This enormous mass of waste has a significant environmental impact, which needs suitable solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture, while increasing the economic income for farmers. A promising way to reduce agricultural waste, passes through the valorization of agricultural co-products, by-products and residues, as well as other non-organic materials - such as plastics, widely used in crop cultivation and animal production - after the end of their working life. In order to involve farmers to play an active role on this issue, contributing to transform what they currently consider as a “waste” into a new “resource”, under the perspective of a circular economy and for a more sustainable agriculture, the Project TANGO-Circular has been financed by the EU Erasmus+ Programme. Aim of this Project is to train farmers and other agricultural stakeholders to be involved in finding viable solutions to exploit unusable remains of crops or animal farms, so as to enhance their financial input, while simultaneously contribute to reducing the environmental impact of their agro-livestock activities. With the aim to plan the valorization of agricultural waste, under the TANGO-Circular Project, a Geographical Information System (GIS) has been implemented through an open-access software (Q-GIS). This GIS has been structured into a first part dedicated to the quantification of agricultural waste flows – both organic, coming from agroindustrial activities, and not-organic, such as plastics - and a second part, focused on the spatial distribution of these flows in the study area of the project partners. Through GIS, the areas with high density of agricultural waste have been pointed out, and the suitable location of potential collection centres has been proposed. The maps that have been produced, as well as the GIS database, are always updatable tools, useful also for monitoring and optimizing the sorting and collection of agricultural waste from the farms, their suitable treatments and transport to the collection centers or recycling stations. The implemented GIS methodology has revealed very useful to support farmers and their associations, as well as all public bodies interested to govern the agricultural waste flows, to individuate possible solutions designed for the valorization of these flows, in the perspective of a circular economy. The sustainability and economic, territorial, environmental and social convenience of each form of valorization designed have been investigated, and criticalities associated with each phase of the process and consequent implementation of appropriate solutions to each problem have been addressed. Finally, further possible solutions, aimed at an increasingly better valorization of these flows, have been proposed as well

Influence of Oleacein, an Olive Oil and Olive Mill Wastewater Phenolic Compound, on Caenorhabditis elegans Longevity and Stress Resistance

International audienceOleacein, a bioactive compound of olive oil and olive mill wastewater, has one of the strongest antioxidant activities among olive phenolics. However, few reports explore the in vivo antioxidant activity of oleacein, with no clear identification of the biological pathway involved. Earlier studies have demonstrated a link between stress resistance, such as oxidative stress, and longevity. This study presents the effects of oleacein on Caenorhabditis elegans mean lifespan and stress resistance. A significant lifespan extension was observed with an increase of 20% mean lifespan at 5 µg/mL with a hormetic-like dose-dependent effect. DAF-16 and SIR-2.1 were involved in the effects of oleacein on the longevity of C. elegans, while the DAF-2 receptor was not involved. This study also shows the capacity of oleacein to significantly enhance C. elegans resistance to oxidative and thermal stress and allows a better understanding of the positive effects of olive phenolics on health

Validation of Simple UPLC-MS-UV and HPLC-Fluorescence Methods for the Determination of Oleacein in Olive Mill Wastewater. Application in the Analysis of Oleacein in French Cultivars

Olive oil production results in a highly polluting aqueous byproduct, known as olive mill wastewater (OMW), which occurs in volumes up to 1200 L per ton of crushed olives. OMW contains 98% of olive phenolic compounds, so there is rapidly growing interest in the bioactive properties of secoiridoids such as oleacein in this waste product. The aim of the study presented here was first to validate rapid UPLC-MS, UPLC-UV, and HPLC-fluorescence methods for the analysis of oleuropein in OMW and secondly to apply these methods to the determination of factors influencing the concentration of oleacein in five French olive varieties. Spiked matrix calibration standards containing 10.5 to 90 mg/g oleacein were used for validation and were prepared in-house by adding known amounts of oleacein to the OMW of a variety with a low amount of oleacein. The spiked matrix standards were extracted twice into 2 × 2 mL of dichloromethane by rotary mixing for 15 min. Following centrifugation, the combined supernatants were evaporated under a stream of nitrogen at 30 °C. The evaporated residues were reconstituted in methanol and diluted 8-fold for analysis by UPLC-MS-UV and by HPLC-fluorescence detection on a different instrument. The three techniques were both individually validated and cross-validated by repeat analysis and comparison of aqueous and extracted matrix standards. Repeatability and intermediate precision of spiked standards, expressed as the mean (n = 5) coefficient of variation, were 2.89 and 3.79%, respectively, for UPLC-MS and 2.14 and 2.88%, respectively, for UPLC-UV, with corresponding values of 3.80 and 4.78% for HPLC-fluorescence. The coefficients of correlation (R2) were generally greater than 0.999, and for each of the three methods, the “lack of fit” test showed that deviation from linearity was nonsignificant. The methods were applied to investigate how variety, harvest year, and ripening stage influence the amount of oleacein in five French olive cultivars including Picholine and Olivière whose concentrations of this compound were not previously reported. Picholine contained up to five times more oleacein than the other cultivars, and while the ripening stage combined with the harvest year affected overall concentration, it was not significantly impacted by the ripening stage or harvest year individually