Comparative study of differently composted organic fraction of municipal solid waste: Insights from physicochemical analysis

Abstract Changes in consumption pattern, living standards, and urbanization, and industrialization has resulted in a huge amount of municipal solid waste generation which poses severe threats to environmental sustainability. In this regard, the present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of three different composting methods, based on different maturity indices for the conversion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) to compost as a potting medium. Among the applied methods of composting, windrow composting (WC) showed the higher degradation rate of OFMSW, and compost was obtained in the shortest period followed by pit and drum composting. After a comparative study of all the produced compost, all the physicochemical parameters were found close to each prepared by different methods. All the physical parameters like pH, EC, MC, TOC, and C/N ratios of the prepared composts were in the acceptable range as declared by US and European guidelines for compost. The results revealed that the total content of micronutrients (Zn, Mg, Na, Fe, Cu, Mn) in all produced composts were below the critical ranges specified by the European Commission organic agriculture and A-class compost used in Spain for agriculture purposes. Heavy metals (Ni, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Hg) concentration in the final composts were also below the ranges reported by previous researchers. In conclusion, the composted materials through WC could serve as a potential potting medium owing to the existence of high biodegradable organic material, suitable content of C/N ratio, MC, pH, NPK, micro-and macro-nutrients, and heavy metals below the permissible limits.