Composting: A Traditional Practice of Waste Treatment

Abstract

The intensity and concentrated activity of the livestock industry and other sources generate vast amounts of biodegradable wastes, which must be managed under appropriate disposal practices to avoid a negative impact on the environment (odour and gaseous emissions, soil and water pollution, etc.) (Burton and Turner. Manure management, 2nd edn. Treatment Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture Silsoe Research Institute, Lister and Durling Printers, Flitwick, 2003). Micro-organisms are largely responsible for the cycles of the elements within a soil and are involved in decomposing of organic substances at the ecosystem level (Bastida et al. Appl Soil Ecol 40:318–329, 2008). Composting process can substantially reduce the environmental problems associated with the treatment of wastes by transforming them into stabilized and safer materials in order to apply on soil by employing microbial activities (Carr et al. Commercial and on-farm production and marketing of animal waste compost products. In: Steele K (ed) Animal waste and the land–water interface. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, pp 485–492, 1995). Schematic representation of evolution of organic substances during composting process is shown in Fig. 3.1. Composting cannot be considered a new technology since it has been used by our ancestors as a traditional practice for agriculture based wastes (Chauhan and Singh. World J Zool 7(1):23–29, 2012), but amongst the waste management strategies it is gaining interest as a suitable option for manures with economic and environmental profits. Composting eliminates or reduces the risk of spreading of pathogens, parasites and weed seeds associated with direct land application of manure and leads to a final stabilized product which can be used to improve and maintain soil quality and fertility (Larney and Hao. Bioresour Technol 98:3221–3227, 2007). Composting provides a means of recycling solid wastes and has the potential to manage most of the organic material in the waste, animal manure, paper products, sewage sludge and domestic wastes (Adegunloye et al. Pak J Nutr 6:506–510, 2007). However, depending on the production of good quality compost, specifically, compost that is mature and sufficiently low in metals and salt content (Hargreaves et al. Agric Ecosyst Environ 123:1–14, 2008), the compost will be suitable for plants.