Abstract
The solid waste manager seeks two forms of alteration of the waste matrix: (1) reduction of mass, as disposal is based upon weight, or volume, because landfill capacity is a function of volume; (2) reduction of environmental hazard, often called stabilization. Technologies that accomplish both are ideal. Waste combustion reduces mass, greatly reduces volume, and completely stabilizes the waste biologically. One seeks to accomplish the same goal with degradation. Digestion of waste is not ordinarily considered to be a component of resource recovery. Many advocates of recycling actively promote composting, however. In the suburban sprawl of the United States, where each homeowner has considerable land, some communities distribute composting containers to homeowners to get citizens to divert organic materials from the waste stream. In areas of denser population, such as multi-family dwellings, back-garden composting will not work. Degradation undertaken as a process (rather than simply due to waste storage, as in a landfill) has the objective of producing a useful product: compost. Compost can be used to enhance soil nutrient levels. Thus, degradation is actually a form of recovery of minerals from waste. Carbon recovery actually makes digestion fall somewhat in the same league as combustion (Chapter 4) because the fundamental chemistry is that of recovery of energy from carbon. Composting, particularly with food wastes, also furnishes nitrogen, which may be required to return soils to fertility.
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Stessel, R.I. (1996). Digestion. In: Recycling and Resource Recovery Engineering. Environmental Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80219-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80219-5_10
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