Author:
Abdullah Norazlin,Chin Nyuk Ling,Mokhtar Mohd Noriznan,Taip Farah Saleena
Abstract
Abstract
Background
To prevent the interruption of the carbon cycle by the disposal of waste to landfills, organic kitchen waste requires proper treatment such as composting to reduce its uncontrolled degradation on disposal sites and subsequent greenhouse gases, odour emissions and nutrient losses. This study investigated the effects of bulking agent, newspaper and onion peels, composting waste load sizes of 2 and 6 kg, or the use of starter culture on kitchen-waste composting consisting of nitrogen-riched substrates, vegetable scraps and fish processing waste in an in-vessel system. The optimised formulation of kitchen waste mixture was used for a 30-day composting study, where the temperature profiles were recorded and the carbon-to-nitrogen ratios were measured as an indication of compost maturity. The kitchen-waste composting process was conducted in parallel in two fabricated kitchen waste composters.
Results
It was found that the onion peels were more suitable in producing matured compost where the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio reduced to 10 within 16 days of composting. A smaller kitchen waste load size of 2 kg gave a shorter composting time by half when compared to the 6 kg. The use of a microbial cocktail consisting seven types of bacteria and eight types of fungi isolated from soils as a starter culture for this kitchen-waste composting did not show advantages in accelerating the composting process.
Conclusions
The results suggest that the in-vessel kitchen-waste composting can be efficient with a minimal load of about 2 kg using onion peels without additional starter culture.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Waste Management and Disposal,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Cited by
22 articles.
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