In rural areas dairy processing effluent may also irrigated to land. If not managed correctly, dissolved salts contained in the effluent can also leach into underlying groundwater and effect it's quality.
On the contrary, whey is a valuable source of nutrients if processed, recovery of whey components and/or use of whey as fermentation medium may be advantageous not only for the environment but also for a sustainable economy but compared with established West European markets, demand for whey products in the east European and accession countries remains under developed.
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia produce less whey compared with western EU countries. A higher production of whey and its conversion into functional foods can be a great added value for those countries.

The main objectives of WHY WHEY project is to:

• Create awareness about the possibilities offered by the reuse of whey in Turkey and East EU.
• Develop a vocational training pathway consisting in adapting, testing, disseminating an education/training/decision process integrated system of transferable teaching materials for new skills/jobs on dairy-food and feed sector for target groups.