Barrel Composting of Domestic Solid Waste in Bangladesh: A Case Study

Abstract

The solid waste in most of the urban centres in Bangladesh contains a very high proportion of biodegradable organic fraction. Thus the management of this organic fraction of solid waste is becoming a very important strategic option to minimize severe environmental pollution resulting from mismanagement of solid waste in many urban areas. The organic fraction of solid waste can be composted to reduce the volume of the waste and the compost can be used as soil conditioner. This paper summarizes one year long applied research on barrel composting plants undertaken to design an efficient small-scale plant for composting biodegradable portion of solid waste in Bangladesh. Selected environmental parameters were measured to assess the environmental conditions of digestion processes during composting of solid waste in these barrel-composting plants. The study included determination of chemical and microbial quality of compost produced of these composting plants for the effective use of compost as soil conditioner.