Title: Home composting of organic waste - part 2: effect of management practices

Authors: Bijaya K. Adhikari; Anne Trémier; José Martinez; Suzelle Barrington

Addresses: UR GERE, 17 avenue du Cucillé, CS 64427, F-35044, Rennes, France; Department of Bioresource Engineering, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 21 111 Lakeshore, Ste Anne de Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9 Canada. ' UR GERE, 17 avenue du Cucillé, CS 64427, F-35044, Rennes, France; Université Européenne de Bretagne, Rennes, France. ' UR GERE, 17 avenue du Cucillé, CS 64427, F-35044, Rennes, France; Université Européenne de Bretagne, Rennes, France. ' UR GERE, 17 avenue du Cucillé, CS 64427, F-35044, Rennes, France; Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada

Abstract: Home composting (HC) can produce safe compost if properly managed, while reducing municipal disposal costs. This project investigated the sanitary and safety impact of HC management (with/without bulking agent, batch/weekly feeding, with/without regular mixing) using the Plastic (P) and Wood (W) bins, the Rotary Drum (RD) and the Ground Pile (GP) filled with equal wet volumes of food waste (FW) and yard trimmings (YT). Thermophilic temperatures were obtained only for batch feeding. Mixing the HC compost improved thermophilic temperature duration for W with limited convective aeration, but reduced the duration for P with good convective aeration. Tested only with W and RD, BA reduced the thermophilic period by increasing the compost dry matter from 20% to 40%, lowering the pH from 6.1-7.7 to 5.7, and diluting the biodegradable organic matter. The lowest parasite and pathogen level and odours were obtained in P and GP without BA.

Keywords: organic waste; home composters; compost quality; MSW; municipal solid waste; composting; solid waste management; waste disposal; onsite treatment; sanitary impact; safety impact.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2012.049239

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2012 Vol.15 No.3/4/5/6, pp.438 - 464

Published online: 17 Dec 2014 *

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