Abstract:
Effective waste management is important in
reducing the negative environmental impact
caused by urbanization, industrialization, and
population growth. Like most other
developing countries, less attention is paid to
waste treatment in Sri Lanka, while the focus
is mainly on waste collection. Most
municipalities of Sri Lanka practice the
collection of kitchen waste (KW) separately
at the household level but the collected KW
mainly end up in a neglected composting yard
and no further steps were taken to utilize KW in
producing value-added product/s [1].
The conversion of biodegradable waste into
compost has been practiced worldwide for
decades now [2]. However, the production
and application of composting has two major
problems, longer processing time, and nutrient
status dependency on the method of
composting and on the composition of the
initial substrates used. Over the years, many
solutions have been proposed for these issues
[3, 4]. One simple efficient method to
accelerate the composting process is
Continuous Thermophilic Composting (CTC)
in which the waste is incubated in moderately
high temperatures, synthetically creating the
thermophilic composting phase throughout
the process. According to literature, CTC can
reduce the composting cycle of KW to 14
days while a regular cycle can be last up to 60
days [3]. However, the drawback of artificially
accelerated composting processes is the
lowered quality or maturity of the product.
Cocopeat is abundantly available in Sri Lanka
for a low cost. As a bulking agent in
composting, cocopeat increases the porosity
of the substrate thereby promotes the aeration,
while its high water-holding capacity
supports to maintain optimal moisture
content. The addition of cocopeat promotes
microbial growth and accelerates the aerobic
digestion of substrates. The current study
proves that the integrated thermophilic
composting process with cocopeat as an
additive valorizes KW into high-quality
compost via a rapid and economically feasible
route.
