16 th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology Rhodes, Greece, 4 to 7 September 2019 CEST2019_00742 A Methodology for Boosting Circular Economy in Olive Oil and Wine Sectors: Opportunities for the Italian Competitiveness through Eco-Innovation Strategies Vaccari M. 1,* , Chebbi A. 2 , Franzetti A. 2 , Sbaffoni S. 3 1 University of Brescia, Dep. of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics, Via Branze 43, 25123 Brescia, Italy 2 University of Milano-Bicocca, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences -DISAT, Piazza della Scienza 1 - 20126 Milano, Italy 3 ENEA, Sustainability Department, Resource Valorisation Lab, Casaccia Research Center, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy *corresponding author: e-mail:mentore.vaccari@unibs.it Abstract Applying the principles of circular economy to agriculture is a very important contemporary issue on the international political and economic agenda. In this context, current knowledge and recent insights on biosurfactant production will be surveyed to apply these novel economic approaches in the field of agricultural waste valorisation. The main objective of the CREIAMO project is to set up a replicable methodology for boosting the transition towards circular economy of the oil and wine production sectors through the creation of new destinations for residues originated, new options for their economic valorisation and new business models to increase the competitiveness of companies. A first pilot application will be run in the Lombardia Region. To achieve this objective, the project operates on different eco-innovation strategies: a. Process and product eco-innovation for the exploitation of agriculture wastes from the production of wine and olive oil for producing eco- friendly biosurfactants. Cost-effective production methods will be implemented to improve its market profitability, resulting in higher yields and purity. In CREAIMO, theses bio value-added products will be, therefore, used to treat contaminated soil, which represents a main environmental issue. b. Systemic eco-innovation through industrial symbiosis (IS), allowing companies to achieve at the same time economic, environmental, and social advantages. This project will represent the first structured attempt of industrial symbiosis implementation in the Lombardia region, aiming at creating a symbiosis network with the active participation of both SMEs and local stakeholders. Keywords: Circular economy; Rhamnolipids; Waste valorisation, Eco-innovation, Integrative approach. 1. Introduction Olive and winery cultivation are particularly widespread throughout the Mediterranean region, including Italy, and play vital roles in its rural economy, local heritage, and environment protection (Muhlack et al., 2018; Varelas et al., 2016). Olive oil production in the European Union (EU), was around 75.8% of the world's production from 2009 to 2016, with Spain the largest producer (followed by Italy and Greece) responsible for an average of 62.7% of the total production in the EU over those years (IOOC, 2016). Italy possesses an important olive-growing heritage, with more than 150 million olive trees on approximately 1,100,000 hectares of cultivated land and 825,000 farms (ISMEA 2016). While for winery sector, 7,204,904 tonnes of wine grapes were harvested in Italy in 2016, from a production area of 622 million hectares, which yields a yield per hectare of 115.8 quintals (ISTAT 2018; Muhlack et al., 2018). Production in Lombardy reaches 1.47 million hectoliters (ISTAT 2018). Designation of origin (PDO) wines were 781 thousand hectoliters, while protected geographical indication (PGI) production was 535 thousand hectoliters, reaching 36% of total production, the historical maximum. The vineyard area covers a total of 21220 hectares. These two agriculture sectors generate diverse adverse effects on the environment, and several Life Cycle Assessment analyses carried out in Italy (Bordiga et al., 2019), have pointed out the generation, management and treatment of those wastes as one of the main opportunities to take into consideration for reaching eco-friendlier production chain (Luciano et al., 2016). Physico-chemical characteristics of the wastes generated vary mainly according to the process used for the extraction of olive oil (e.g., live cake, olive mill wastewaters, olive wet cake) (Roig et al., 2006). Olive cake is usually further processed for soil conditioning and composting, or to produce biomass fuel because of its high calorific power (Roig et al., 2006). Several attempts were carried out towards detoxification of such wastes and the recovery of high valuable bioactive compounds present in the olive oil wastes, such as polyphenols, which deal with the increasing interest on valorising wastes by recovery biomolecules (Baiano, 2014). In this context, those strategies would valorize olive oil and winery wastes, generates a remarkable by-product rather than just a waste, and at the same time minimizing environmental impact.