Abstract
PurposeHuge 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.MethodsIn-vessel composting technique was applied for speedy biotransformation of yard waste. Addition of food waste, effective microorganisms (EM) and Shimamoto Enzyme® (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).ResultsThe 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.ConclusionApplication 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.
Highlights
Landfilling has been the most adopted option for disposing of growing quantities of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Malaysia as it is the cheapest disposal option (Agamuthu 2013)
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
yard waste (YW) feedstock and matured compost samples collected after curing with application of effective microorganisms (EM)
Summary
Landfilling has been the most adopted option for disposing of growing quantities of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Malaysia as it is the cheapest disposal option (Agamuthu 2013). Many illegal dumpsites have been used in Malaysia for disposing of the waste (Malakahmad et al 2013). Statistics show that more than 90% of collected comingled solid waste in Malaysia is disposed of in unsanitary landfills (Badgie et al 2012; Johari et al 2014). Organic fractions of MSW such as yard waste can be transformed into useful products through biological conversion technologies such as composting (Parthan et al 2012; Rajaie and Tavakoly 2016). Yard waste and food waste collectively represented nearly 50% of waste stream in Malaysia (Dinie et al 2013; Int J Recycl Org Waste Agricult (2017) 6:149–157
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
