Composting of Mixed Yard and Food Wastes with Effective Microbes

Abstract

Composting is one of the alternatives that can be used in waste management to control the increment of waste generation including that is in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). However, a conventional composting is rarely applied due to the longer time consumed to reach maturity phase. This research is focus on the use of effective microbes (EM) that will accelerate the composting process hence composting can be an alternative to treat the problem of organic waste in UKM.This research which took 7 weeks of completion is intend on finding the best EM that can be used to accelerate the composting process. Two types of organic waste are being used in this composting process which is yard waste and food waste. Two EM are applied in this research which is Takakura EM and Fruit Waste EM. The parameters which include temperature, moisture content, pH value, C:N ratio, NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) value and heavy metals concentrationhave been examined. The composting methods applied in this research are composter barrel and rotary drum. Based on the result of observations and experiments after 7 weeks, all pH values for the composts are approximately at neutral value (7.0-8.0) showing that the compost has approached mature phase. For C:N ratio, all of the compost has reached a value of less than 20:1 which is suitable to be used for agriculture. NPK content for potassium is from 0.073 to 0.133 and for phosphorus is from 0.049 to 0.512. For heavy metals, all compost has low levels of heavy metals where it is safe to use for agricultural. Thus, it is concluded that the quality of compost for this research is good and EM Takakura is said to be the suitable solution in decreasing the time taken for composting.