Purpose Flower waste dumping in landfills and other disposal sites is causing major environmental issues due to its highly biodegradable nature. Instead, flower waste can be successfully composted for its higher nutrient value. Therefore, this study evaluated the pile composting of flower waste with different combinations of cow dung and saw dust to produce stabilized compost. Methods Five agitated piles of flower waste mixture were formed in trapezoidal shape to perform the composting. Pile (P 0 ) was a control experiment, which contained 100 kg flower waste. The quantity of flower waste mixture with cow dung and saw dust in the other Piles was a total of 100 kg i.e. P 1 (50:40:10) kg, P 2 (60:30:10) kg, P 3 (70:20:10) kg and P 4 (80:10:10) kg, respectively. Results Temperature above 50°C was observed in all the piles except in P 0 . Physico-chemical characteristics of compost showed a stabilized compost obtained by proportionate mix of flower waste, cow dung and saw dust. Pile P 2 was observed with pH 7.23 and electrical conductivity 3.98 mS cm -1 , total organic carbon 30.9%, total nitrogen 2.31% and C:N ratio 14, thus a good proportion for compost amongst all the piles. Conclusions Appropriate proportion of waste mixture played an important role in providing favorable conditions for the microbial transformation of flower waste to stabilized compost. Temperature influenced the growth of microbes and maximum temperature was helpful in fast degradation of organic matter. Finally, flower waste with a combination of cow dung and saw dust was found to be successful during pile composting.

Studies were carried out on the speciation of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Cr) during rotary drum composting of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) for a period of 20 days. Five different proportions of cattle manure, water hyacinth and sawdust were prepared for composting. This study concluded that, rotary drum was very efficient for the degradation of organic matter as well as for the reduction of mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals during water hyacinth composting. The results from the sequential extraction procedure of heavy metals shows that rotary drum composting changed the distribution of five fractions of Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Cr. The highest reduction in the bioavailability factors of Pb and Cd was observed during the process. The total concentration of Cu, Cr, and Cd was very low compared to the other metals (Zn, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Pb); however, the percentage of exchangeable and carbonate fractions of these metals was similar to other metals. These results confirmed that the bioavailability of metals does not depend on the total concentration of metals. From this study, it can be concluded that the addition of an appropriate proportion of cattle manure significantly reduced the mobile and easily available fractions (exchangeable and carbonate fractions) during water hyacinth composting in rotary drum.

The flower waste generated from different sources is either mixed with municipal solid waste or thrown into the river in India. Flower waste is rich in organic contents and can be converted into nutrient-enriched compost. The aim of the present study was to determine the changes in physico-chemical and biological changes during the composting of flower waste by using rotary drum technique. For composting the flower, waste was mixed with cow dung, sawdust, and wheat bran. Four different trials were performed, in which 0.5 wt% of sawdust and wheat bran was added in each trial. From the series of trials 1-4, the different proportions of flower waste and cow dung were 5:4, 6:3, 7:2 and 8:1, respectively. Finally, the compost produced by all the trials were found to have pH 7.23-7.51, electrical conductivity 5.5-6.12 mS/cm, reduction in the percentage of total organic carbon 22-33%, the percentage increase in total nitrogen 2.17-2.66%, C:N ratio 13-17, sodium 2.14-2.60 g/kg and calcium 13.35-15.58 g/kg. The analytical hierarchy process was used for the ranking of the trials to find the best proportions from the different combinations performed in this study.

Adsorption is an economical and widely used technique for removing dye from wastewater, especially for non-biodegradable pollutants. In this study, the effectiveness of water hyacinth (WH) as an adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue (MB) was conducted in a batch process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize WH. The influence of operational parameters such as dye concentration, pH, WH dose, and contact time was studied to determine the most favourable experimental conditions. Dubinin Radushkevich,

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