Longtime Rome Business ‘Fueling The Future’ In Honor Of Earth Day

A longtime staple in Rome is using the occasion of Earth Day to announce the launch of their sustainability initiative.

Sovena USA is one of the largest olive oil producers in the world. Using the annual holiday created to encourage recycling and green efforts, Sovena announced a series of new objectives they have to help try and make a positive impact on the planet in their operations and production.

Sovena acknowledges that while this is the first official year kicking off these initiatives, they have been engaged in environmentally friendly practices for years. Given the fact they are an olive oil producer, it is obvious their contributions to creating a carbon neutral footprint is evidenced by the over 10 million olive trees they've planted over the years. More and more are being planted every day.

Sovena USA is also looking at how they can make their packaging more recyclable. Enrique Escudero is the Managing Director of Sovena and he says,

Black pigment plastic presents a huge obstacle to recycling because scanners and sorting machines at recycling plants cannot detect it. When it can’t be recycled, it then winds up tossed in landfills, leaving a clear path for its toxic chemicals to permeate the environment. It was therefore a no-brainer for us to start to remove this element from our production.

In addition to the discontinued use of the black pigment bottle caps and pourers, Sovena plans to stop using plastic-wrapped bottles to reduce the amount of plastic waste. The ultimate goal is to have a zero-waste production process and that even includes water reuse for irrigation of olive trees. Hopefully, more local businesses and manufacturers will take similar steps.