Driving Sustainable Waste Management in Northern Ireland-Home Composting of "Green Garden Waste" in Castlereagh

Curtis, A.H.; Phillips, Paul S; Tudor, Terry L

doi:10.5276/jswtm.2009.191

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Composting in bins is one of the most common methods of biowaste recycling at a home, with an individual bin per household, or community scale, sharing one or more bins between multiple households. Most of the studies about home composting focused on the evaluation of experiences and programs (Preston, Cade-Menun, and Sayer 1998;Curtis 2009;Papadopoulos et al 2009;Schwalb et al 2011;), some of these in tropical or developing countries (Moqsud, Bushra, and Rahman. 2011;Benjawan et al 2014;Faverial and Sierra, 2014), others assessed the amount of waste diverted from collection and centralized management (Gale 1990;Mckay and Buc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Feeding Regime on Composting in Bins

Storino

Menéndez

Muro

et al. 2016

Compost Science & Utilization

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Composting in bins is one of the most practical home composting methods. There is currently a need for greater information to improve the management of the composting process and to create home composting programs which ensure sustainable production of high quality compost. This study investigates how two aspects of the bin feeding regimethe feeding frequency and the amount of waste applied at each feedinfluence the process's evolution and the quality of the compost. Compost bins were assayed after introducing the same amount of kitchen and garden waste according to three different frequencies: in a single batch, weekly or every three weeks. A fourth treatment was applied to calculate the potential waste reduction achieved by the composting process, filling the bins to the brim on a weekly basis. Temperature, mass and volume changes, the microbial diversity (by Biolog) and gas emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O and NH3) were all determined during the process. At the end of the experiment, all the composts were weighed and characterized. Results show that the main differences were very dependent on the quantity of waste provided. Large amounts of waste were added increasing the compost's temperature and maturity during the process, while slightly affecting the salinity and phytotoxicity of the final compost but without any clear effects on microbial diversity and gas emission. Therefore, from a technical point of view, the shared use of compost bins among several households (community composting) is preferable to individual use.

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