{"id":178873,"date":"2026-07-27T07:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T05:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=178873"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:50:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:50:36","slug":"olive-pits-find-new-life-in-furniture-flooring-and-asphalt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/olive-pits-find-new-life-in-furniture-flooring-and-asphalt\/","title":{"rendered":"Olive Pits Find New Life in Furniture, Flooring and Asphalt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

An estimated 1.2 million metric tons of crushed olive pits, also known as stones, are generated each year during olive oil milling<\/a>, supporting a growing range of uses and an evolving supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Spanish Biomass Association (Avebiom), many of Spain\u2019s<\/a> largest olive oil mills separate the pits from the rest of the pomace<\/a>, using them to generate thermal energy for heating mills and water or selling them as fuel for industrial boilers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About one-third of the pits are cleaned and processed to reduce their moisture content before being sold at a premium over unrefined pits for use as renewable fuel in domestic boilers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a growing number of companies across the olive oil sector are turning pits into construction and design products, responding to demand for sustainable building materials and capitalizing on the material\u2019s distinctive properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur interest in working with olive mill residues comes from a real need that we, as Uruguayan producers<\/a>, face because of the relatively low oil content of our fruit,\u201d Mart\u00edn Robaina, director of Olivos de las \u00c1nimas, told Olive Oil Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we realized we needed to make better use of all the by-products generated during processing,\u201d he added. \u201cWe started looking for ways to add value to these residues by developing different applications for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years ago, the Maldonado-based producer purchased a machine to separate the pits from the rest of the pomace, initially intending to use the pits as biofuel and the activated carbon to filter olive mill wastewater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While exploring other possibilities, Robaina and his business partner, Marcelo Ortega, met someone who worked with resin and recycled wood waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe introduced him to olive pits to see whether he thought they could be used to make useful products,\u201d Robaina said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we gradually began developing a range of products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started with kitchen cutting boards, plates and coasters,\u201d he added. \u201cNow we\u2019re beginning to develop flooring and wall cladding as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robaina said the company has also experimented with different-colored resins and recently produced an entire table made from ground olive pits bound with resin.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Furniture
Furniture makers are among the customers for Pit-to-Table\u2019s olive pit panels. \u00a9 Pit-to-Table<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a very rewarding experience because consumers appreciate seeing agricultural by-products transformed into new products,\u201d he said. \u201cThey value the fact that we\u2019re putting our waste to use and embracing a circular economy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olivos de las \u00c1nimas is designing a new boutique space in its olive groves with walls and floors made from olive pit panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want visitors to experience the material firsthand,\u201d Robaina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 12,000 kilometers away, on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus<\/a>, design firm Pit-to-Table is also combining olive pits with a binding agent to produce decorative and functional panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-founder Mustafa Af\u015faro\u011flu told Olive Oil Times that his childhood around olive mills in northern Cyprus, his career as an interior designer in London and the Covid-19 pandemic led him to reconsider the olive milling process as a source of sustainable building materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe approached a few farmers in Cyprus to see if they would come on board and supply us with olive pits so we could start testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe needed more than just a prototype,\u201d Af\u015faro\u011flu added. \u201cWe also had to understand the economics because we wanted to buy the pits from the farmers rather than simply take them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat way, we could help create a new supply chain and value chain around a waste product they were already accumulating,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founders took olive pomace and separated the skins from the pits by hand to prevent any skin from entering the final product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal wasn\u2019t just to achieve the right particle size,\u201d Af\u015faro\u011flu said. \u201cWe also wanted a very fine, almost powder-like material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hand-crushed a portion of the pits, mixed everything with a binding agent and made our first small sample,\u201d he added.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Pit-to-Table
Pit-to-Table is working with\u00a0local researchers to move beyond panel production to other types of\u00a0olive-pit-based construction materials. \u00a9 Pit-to-Table
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

After developing several prototypes, Af\u015faro\u011flu and his co-founders settled on a material with a cork-like texture and appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They entered the olive-pit-based panel in a United Nations Development Program sustainable design competition and received a cash prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the prize money, the founders commissioned a local materials engineering firm to identify the best ratio of olive pits to binding agent. By 2025, they had produced their first panels for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Af\u015faro\u011flu and his colleagues began working with two olive farmers, one on each side of the divided island. They pay \u20ac250 per metric ton of olive pits and eventually began selling the finished panels for \u20ac300 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Af\u015faro\u011flu said the material appeals to designers because of its water- and stain-resistant qualities, biocomposite structure and distinctive appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest selling point of our material for designers has been the edge detail,\u201d he said. \u201cWith conventional boards such as laminated MDF, you normally apply PVC edge banding to hide the exposed MDF core.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith our material, it\u2019s the opposite,\u201d Af\u015faro\u011flu added. \u201cWhen you cut through it, you reveal the olive pits, and we found that creates a very distinctive aesthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead of covering the edges, we celebrate them,\u201d he continued. \u201cThat eliminates the need for additional materials, processing and labor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, Af\u015faro\u011flu said the company\u2019s main customers have been furniture designers and interior decorators prioritizing sustainable materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFurniture manufacturers buy the material from us and use it in products such as laptop tables, coffee tables, dining tables and shelving units, for both horizontal and vertical surfaces,\u201d he said.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Af\u015faro\u011flu
Af\u015faro\u011flu (right) co-founded Pit-to-Table shortly after returning to Cyprus during the Covid-19 pandemic. \u00a9 Pit-to-Table<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe already work with several manufacturers in the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0and across Europe, and we\u2019re continuing to expand that network,\u201d Af\u015faro\u011flu added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designers, including interior designers, furniture designers and architects, make up the company\u2019s second main customer group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor example, one designer is using our board for a reception desk at a law firm in London,\u201d Af\u015faro\u011flu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Af\u015faro\u011flu plans to work with engineers from local universities to follow a path similar to that of Olivos de las \u00c1nimas and explore the potential for olive-pit-based flooring and cladding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, researchers and officials in Barcelona are preparing to repave some of the city\u2019s streets with asphalt containing olive-pit-based biochar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Barcelona\u2019s city council, the lower-impact asphalt will be used in public works projects from October through December 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities will collect data on the asphalt\u2019s performance over the following 12 months before publishing a report in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the tests are successful, the city council said the new asphalt formula could reduce emissions from street paving by 75 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, who were involved in developing the formula, have previously said<\/a> the material delivers promising mechanical performance and greater resistance to water penetration than conventionally produced asphalt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An estimated 1.2 million metric tons of crushed olive pits, also known as stones, are generated each year during olive oil milling, supporting a growing range of uses and an evolving supply chain. According to the Spanish Biomass Association (Avebiom), many of Spain\u2019s largest olive oil mills separate the pits from the rest of the pomace, using them to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":178888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Once used mainly as biomass fuel, olive pits are becoming a sought-after material for sustainable furniture, interior panels, construction products and lower-carbon pavin","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11286,26125,5714,12447,27751,10416,15881,12617,28198,13535],"supplier":[28201,28200,28197,28202,28199,4279],"class_list":["post-178873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biocomposites","tag-biodesign","tag-biofuels","tag-buildingmaterials","tag-byproducts","tag-circulareconomy","tag-cork","tag-furniture","tag-olivepits","tag-wastewater","supplier-barcelona-city-council","supplier-olivos-de-las-animas","supplier-pit-to-table","supplier-polytechnic-university-of-catalonia","supplier-spanish-biomass-association-avebiom","supplier-universitat-de-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178932,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178873\/revisions\/178932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178873"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=178873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}