Decentralized Composting of Food Waste: A Perspective on Scientific Knowledge

Abstract

Composting has been demonstrated to be an effective and sustainable technology to treat a wide variety of organic wastes. A particular aspect of composting is the number of technological options that can be used, from full-scale plants to small composters. In this sense, the interest in composting at home or on a community scale is exponentially growing in recent years, as it permits the self-management of organic wastes and obtaining compost that can be used by the same producer. However, some questions about the quality of the obtained compost or the environmental impact of home composting are still in an early stage of development and provide little knowledge. In this review, the main points related to home and community composting are analysed in detail according to the current scientific knowledge by highlighting their advantages and possible drawbacks. Particularly, the composting process performance is analysed, with temperature stratification being one of the main problems related to small amounts of organic matter. Simultaneously, compost quality is determined using parameters such as stability and/or maturity, concluding that home compost can be similar to industrial compost in both aspects. However, sanitisation of home compost is not always achieved. Regarding its environmental impact, gaseous emissions, especially greenhouse emissions, are the most studied category and are generally low. Finally, the effects of pandemics on home composting are also preliminary commented, concluding that this strategy can be a good alternative to have cities that are more resilient.

Assessing Physiochemical Characteristics of Agricultural Waste and Ready Compost at Wadi Al-Far’a Watershed of Palestine

“…Agricultural activities can generate considerable amounts and variety of organic wastes such as crop refuse, fruit and vegetable refuse, tree trimming waste, animal manure, and poultry manure. Organic waste can be a major threat to the environment, e.g., air pollution, if not managed and treated properly [ 1 ]. When landfilled, organic waste undergoes biological degradation process releasing methane gas (CH 4 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and other gases in small amounts [ 2 , 3 ].…”

“…However, the physiochemical characteristics and mixing ratios of raw organic waste, being the feedstock for compost production, need to be assessed [ 38 , 42 ]. This is because the quality and portion of the feedstock used are the primary determinants of the composition and quality of the final compost, including its physiochemical properties [ 6 , 43 ] and its maturation time [ 1 , 39 ].…”

An estimation of bio-methane and energy project potentials of municipal solid waste using landfill gas emission and cost models

“…To reduce these GHG emissions from MSW, different waste treatment technologies have been developed. These include waste composting technology reported by Sohoo et al (2021) and Sanchez (2022), and LFG energy projects reported in EPA (2021a, c) and Huang and Fooladi (2021). The incineration process was also reported in Moharir et al (2019), Gupta et al (2022) and Sohoo et al (2021).…”

“…These include waste composting technology reported by Sohoo et al. (2021) and Sanchez (2022), and LFG energy projects reported in EPA (2021a, c) and Huang and Fooladi (2021). The incineration process was also reported in Moharir et al.…”

Subproductos agrícolas (cáscara de yuca y arroz) para compost como alternativa de valoración económica

“…La generación de residuos orgánicos está aumentando a nivel mundial y se deben desarrollar y optimizar estrategias para su impacto ambiental y costo (Rashwan et al, 2021). Ante tal problemática, las tecnologías de conversión altamente eficientes, económicas y respetuosas con el medio ambiente se vislumbran como la solución más acertada; en tal sentido, el compostaje tiene una alta capacidad para transformar diversos desechos orgánicos en un producto valioso para fines agrícolas, como medio de crecimiento hortícola para mejorar la estructura del suelo aumentando su contenido de materia orgánica y su fertilidad (Sánchez, 2022;Peralta et al, 2019).…”