Methodology for the Localization of Wool Collecting Centers: The Case Study of Sicily

Abstract

Sustainable rural development depends on a multidimensional process based on the interaction of the economic, cultural, social, environmental, and political subsystems. Many studies have ascribed the extensive livestock systems a potential role in sustainable rural development. Sheep farming in Europe involves meat or dairy breeds that produce coarse wool unsuitable for textile use. Coarse wool has been historically used for mattresses or pillows; nowadays, it is a farm waste. The aim of this study was to suggest a methodology for the localization of wool collecting centers within a study area, i.e., the Sicily Region, in order to valorize a livestock waste, i.e., sheep wool. This methodology is based on a detailed database of the local livestock population and GIS usage. Moreover, this method could be replicable in the whole EU territory, where the EC regulation n. 21/2004 has established that each Member State set up a system for the identification and registration of ovine animals, for traceability veterinary reasons. On the basis of the number of animals shorn on a municipal basis, and the existing main roads, the most suitable areas for the localization of four wool collection centers have been identified. Furthermore, it was also hypothesized that each collecting center could be specialized in a specific treatment for subsequent wool use (e.g., amendment fertilizers, keratin extraction, green building material or geo-textile production).

Bio-Innovative Pretreatment of Coarse Wool Fibers

“…However, it is a useful technological resource or may pose a significant environmental hazard due to improper disposal of wool (whole fleece) and/or uncontrolled release of effluents from the scouring process. The sheep fleece is a mixture of fine and coarse fibers, grease (lipids, high fatty acids and their ethers, ethers, alcohols, sterols and lanolin), suint (sweat: ammonium salts, urea, amino acids and K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn sulphates, oxalates and phosphates) and contaminants as dander, vegetable matter, dirt, sand, urine and microorganisms [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”