In-vessel co-composting of yard waste and food waste: an approach for sustainable waste management in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose Huge amount of yard waste is produced in cities with excessive agricultural activities like Cameron Highlands, Malaysia where most of the time the yard waste is being managed poorly and big portion of it ends in dump sites. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the applicability of converting yard waste generated in Cameron Highlands Malaysia into high-quality and fast compost via in-vessel method. Methods In-vessel composting technique was applied for speedy biotransformation of yard waste. Addition of food waste, effective microorganisms (EM) and Shimamoto Enzyme Ò (SE) were investigated for improvement of compost quality. Four compositions of feedstock with different yard waste (YW) and food waste (FW) ratios were tested. The compositions were 70%YW ? 30%FW, 80%YW ? 20%FW, 90%YW ? 10%FW and 100%YW. Physicochemical properties of compost including pH, moisture content and C/N ratio were monitored throughout the experiment. Furthermore, quality of compost and its potential for direct application after production were evaluated based on germination index (GI) and nutrient content (NPK). Results The compost samples had pH ranging from 7 to 9 and moisture content of 15.45-32.13%. Initial C/N ratio of all feedstock was decreased throughout the composting process by more than 50%. Seed germination test showed that only 70%YW ? 30%FW feedstock produced immature compost with GI \ 80%. The highest GI of 130% was obtained when FW represented in 10% of the feedstock with addition of EM. Average concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were 1.73, 1.21 and 1.66% in case of EM additive and 1.47, 0.56 and 1.74% in case of SE additive. Conclusion Application of in-vessel composting can improve solid waste management in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia and yield a high-demand product. The approach used in this study can be a good practice for the societies have difficulties in managing their yard waste.

Utilization of Aerobic Compression Composting Technology on Raw Mushroom Waste for Bioenergy Pellets Production

“…Based on the overall observation, the suitable timing for the composting is most favorable at 4 h. Compost from 4 h of processing showed the highest compressive strength and tensile strength, with high impact resistance and feasible wettability index. For the pelletized compost, at 4 h of processing, the compost pellets showed reasonable moisture content, high fixed carbon and calorific value, with high mass density and energy density, falling slightly below that of 5 h. The duration of 1-2 h of composting did not show sufficient decomposition of the raw mushroom waste, while 3 h of composting exhibited qualities of compost that were much lower than 4-5 h. The duration of 4 h is considered as the most satisfactory, as the design of the electric composter is supposed to function as a rapid composter to reduce the overall composting time, which, on average, could take less than 24 h for a closed composting system [59,60]. This reduction in time needed for composting and the evaluation of the subsequent pellets characteristics, which are suitable as biomass pellets, indicate the effectiveness of the rapid electric composter design.…”

Commercial and household food waste separation behaviour and the role of Local Authority: a case study

“…However, few complaints are common, while retaining organic waste for reuse in the community gardens or small urban farm setting, such as smell, attracting pests, smelly pools of stagnant water due to the poor drainage during the compost. However, there are a number of steps a community garden or urban farm can take to reduce compositing problems: (1) composting process needs to be understood appropriately, (2) mixing materials appropriately to remove odour (Malakahmad et al 2017), or adding odour-removing materials with the compost;…”

Assessment of Composting Technologies for Organic Waste Management

“…However, several important aspects need to be considered before implement composting technology. These include sources of waste feedstock in terms of quantity (small scale like home composting, medium scale, or large scale composting) and quality (moisture content and nutrient content) (Basri et al, 2005;Fauziah & Agamuthu, 2009;Zabaleta et al, 2014;Hartono et al, 2015;Ng & Yusoff, 2015), technology set-up in terms of site location and area required (Basri et al, 2005;Zabaleta et al, 2014), required operational skill, and capital and operating costs (Basri et al, 2005;Malakahmad et al, 2017). Besides these, the quality of the compost end-product also needs to be taken into consideration (Zabaleta et al, 2014).…”

“…Most of these aspects or criteria vary with composting technology. Composting can be performed using different methods or systems, such as the static pile system (Ilham & Esa, 2017;Lim et al, 2017), windrow system (Zaini et al, 2015;Ilham & Esa, 2017), in-vessel system (Zaini et al, 2015;Ilham & Esa, 2017;Malakahmad et al, 2017), and vermicomposting system (Fauziah & Agamuthu, 2009). Therefore, selecting the best composting technology is not a straightforward process.…”