title: Vermi composting--organic waste management and disposal.
abstract: Solid waste is an unwanted byproduct of modern civilization. Landfills are the most common means of solid waste disposal. But the increasing amount of solid waste is rapidly filling existing landfills, and new sites are difficult to establish. Alternatives to landfills include the use of source reduction, recycling, composting and incineration, as well as use of landfills. Incineration is most economical if it includes energy recovery from the waste. Energy can be recovered directly from waste by incineration or the waste can be processed to produce storable refuse derived fuel (RDF). Information on the composition of solid wastes is important in evaluating alternative equipment needs, systems, management programs and plans. Pulverization of municipal solid waste is done and the pulverized solid waste is dressed to form a bed and the bed is fed by earthworms which convert the bed into vermi compost. The obtained vermi compost is sent to Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) recognized lab for estimating the major nutrients, i.e. Potassium (K), Phosphorous (P), Nitrogen (N) and Micro-nutrient values. It is estimated that 59 - 65 tons of wet waste can be collected in a town per day and if this wet waste is converted to quality compost, around 12.30 tons of vermi compost can be generated. If a Municipal Corporation manages this wet waste an income of over (see text symbol) for 0.8 9 crore per anum can be earned which is a considerable amount for providing of better services to public.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sir C. R. Reddy College of Engineering, Eluru-534 007, India. jastisudhir@yahoo.com
authors.forename: J Sudhir
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: K Venkata
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Subbaiah
authors.forename: P V V Prasada
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000378:metabolism*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000378:metabolism*; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012987:Soil