Olive oil is a cooking oil that is used to prepare and cook food. Olive oil is considered to be healthy for human consumption, but is olive oil biodegradable and is it environmentally sustainable?
What is Olive Oil?
Olive oil is a liquidated fat obtained from the olive fruit which grows on olive trees.
Olives are picked and then pressed to extract the oil from within. The natural oil is separated from the olive pulp and the pits are discarded.
Olive oil can also be extracted through chemical means which involves using solvents to dissolve olive oil from within the olive. This chemical solvent is later vaporized and recycled for reuse.
Is Olive Oil Biodegradable?
Olive oil is not biodegradable, even though it is an organic material.
The problem with oil is that it doesn’t mix with water which prevents it from being broken down naturally. Oxygen is unable to assist in the decomposition process which limits the number of bacteria that grows within olive oil.
Small quantities of olive oil can be composted but you should avoid throwing large quantities of oil into a composter or compost heap as it will prevent other material from biodegrading.
Used olive oil can be sealed within a plastic container and thrown into your household waste.
Is Olive Oil Eco Friendly?
Olive oil is not environmentally friendly. Olive oil farming is resource intensive and is responsible for the production of a huge amount of waste material that cannot easily be discarded.
The negative environmental impact of olive plantations varies based on the size of the plantation and the methods used to farm and process olives. Small traditional olive plantations have a smaller ecological impact than bigger, modern plantations.
The problem with growing olives includes soil erosion, pesticide and fertilizer use, water consumption and water pollution.
Growing olives is not environmentally friendly, but producing olive oil has an even greater negative impact. The main reason is because it takes 5 kilograms of olives to produce just 1 kilogram of olive oil.
This waste material is poisonous due to high phenol presence and also contains phytotoxic and antimicrobial substances which inhibit plant growth.
Finally, large amounts of energy are consumed to process olives into olive oil and the CO2 emission output is high.
Conclusion
Olive oil is not biodegradable, sustainable or environmentally friendly.
Olive oil should be reused as many times as possible before being discarded at a local recycling centre or thrown away with the rest of your household garbage.
