In this article, treatment and disposal alternatives of olive oil mill wastes and technical requirements for their management are covered. Waste characteristics, treatment options with regard to the economic feasibility, and challenges of existing waste disposal practices in olive growing countries are mentioned. Attention is drawn to present-day techniques of waste management. The search concerning the environmentally acceptable, economically feasible, and practically applicable methods of disposal of olive oil mill wastes is referred. In the management schemes, compliance with environmental regulations and economic and social benefits of the olive oil production are the goals that must be simultaneously achieved.

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Persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations were measured in stack-gases of ferrous scrap processing steel plants with electric arc furnaces (EAFs) (n = 5) in Aliaga, Izmir, Turkey and in air (n = 11) at a site near those plants. Measured stack-gas concentrations for the four plants without scrap preheating (611 +/- 311, 165,000 +/- 285,000, and 33 +/- 3 ng m(-3), average +/- SD for sigma41PCBs, sigma16PAHs, and sigma7PBDEs, respectively) indicated that they are significant sources for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). POP emissions from the plant with scrap preheating were significantly higher (13 500, 445 000, and 91 ng m(-3) for sigma41PCBs, sigma16PAHs, and sigma7PBDEs, respectively). It was also shown that the steel plants emit considerable amounts of fugitive POPs in particle-phase. Estimated emissions using the emission factors generated in this study and the production amounts suggested that the steel plants with EAFs may significantly contribute to local and global PAH, PCB, and PBDE emissions. Several other compounds (aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and chlorine-containing organic compounds, n = 49) were identified and determined semiquantitatively in the stack-gas and ambient air samples. Ambient air concentrations (62 +/- 35, 320 +/- 134 ng m(-3), 1451 +/- 954 pg m(-3), for sigma41PCBs, sigma16PAHs, and sigma7PBDEs, respectively) were significantly higher than those measured previously around the world and in the region, further confirming that the steel plants with EAFs are "hot spots" for POPs.