The Microbial Ecology of Urban Organic Solid Waste Treatment (Compost)

Diverting organic waste from landfills and composting it instead, produces compost, which can be used in agriculture or gardening. In this research, two in-vessel units were used to determine whether the treatment process follows a typical composting profile. The physical, chemical and microbial analysis demonstrated that these in-vessel units do not provide optimum conditions for microbial activity. Hence, the end-products are not compost and require further treatment. In order to improve the conditions of the composting process, an eco-efficient in-vessel composter prototype was built. This prototype provides optimum conditions for microbial activity and follows the typical composting profile. The active phase of composting ends in nine days, where high temperature (65°C) pasteurise the product. At these conditions, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla dominate the composting process. The curing phase requires an additional 51 days to reach maturity. At this stage, Bacteroidetes phyla are in higher abundance. Once, the end-product reaches the maturity it is ready to apply as a soil amendment.