Abstract
Currently, the management of urban waste streams in developing countries is not optimized yet, and in many cases these wastes are disposed untreated in open dumps. This fact causes serious environmental and health problems due to the presence of contaminants and pathogens. Frequently, the use of specific low-cost strategies reduces the total amount of wastes. These strategies are mainly associated to the identification, separate collection and composting of specific organic waste streams, such as vegetable and fruit refuses from food markets and urban gardening activities. Concretely, in the Chimborazo Region (Ecuador), more than 80% of municipal solid waste is dumped into environment due to the lack of an efficient waste management strategy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a demonstration project at field scale in this region to evaluate the feasibility of implanting the composting technology not only for the management of the organic waste fluxes from food market and gardening activities to be scaled-up in other developing regions, but also to obtain an end-product with a commercial value as organic fertilizer. Three co-composting mixtures were prepared using market wastes mixed with pruning of trees and ornamental palms as bulking agents. Two piles were created using different proportions of market waste and prunings of trees and ornamental palms: pile 1 (50:33:17) with a C/N ratio 25; pile 2: (60:30:10) with C/N ratio 24 and pile 3 (75:0:25) with C/N ratio 33), prepared with market waste and prunings of ornamental palm. Throughout the process, the temperature of the mixtures was monitored and organic matter evolution was determined using thermogravimetric and chemical techniques. Additionally, physico-chemical, chemical and agronomic parameters were determined to evaluate compost quality. The results obtained indicated that all the piles showed a suitable development of the composting process, with a significant organic matter decomposition, reached in a shorter period of time in pile 3. At the end of the process, all the composts showed absence of phytotoxicity and suitable agronomic properties for their use as organic fertilizers. This reflects the viability of the proposed alternative to be scaled-up in developing areas, not only to manage and recycle urban waste fluxes, but also to obtain organic fertilizers, including added value in economic terms related to nutrient contents.
Highlights
The increasing generation of food waste and its management constitute a major concern
In order to compare the increase of the temperature values in the three piles, the Exothermic Index (EXI) was used [28]
Thermal profiles of the piles seemed to be negatively affected by the proportion of market wastes (MW) in the composting mixture, EXI = -155.65 MW (% dry weight) + 7724.5 (n = 3, R2 = 0.9445)
Summary
The increasing generation of food waste and its management constitute a major concern. During 2009, in the studied area (Chimborazo Region, Ecuador), only 15% of urban waste, which includes food market waste, was deposited in landfills and 85% was dumped into the environment, with about 14% of total municipal solid waste recycled by official and unofficial procedures [3]. This fact shows that the legislation concerning environmental management is very recent in Ecuador, it is not very strict, being inapplicable in most cases. These actions achieve greater cleanliness and order in the municipal markets, but not a suitable and optimized management of the wastes generated
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