Chemical characterization methods for biodegradable organic wastes with relevance for the composting process. Case study

The study aimed to develop some methods for the compositional characterization of biodegradable waste with relevance to the composting process at the laboratory level. For testing, four waste fractions were selected, such as waste-based on dehydrated sludge, waste from parks (leaves, branches), market waste (mixture of vegetable and fruit), and cardboard waste. For metals and phosphorus, several microwave digestion methods were applied. The ammonium nitrogen content (NH4-N) was determined using a number of extraction procedures (water, CaCl2, and KCl). Three certified reference materials were used for testing the validity of the results. Recovery percentages higher than 90% were obtained. The developed and validated methods are suitable for biodegradable waste characterization used in composting processes.

Development of the level of sorting of municipal waste in the selected locality

Waste management is one of the essential areas that everyone in the world should carry about. Waste collection and treatment help to reduce the risk of the spread of various diseases. Municipal waste is waste produced in households by the population. Municipal waste can be sorted into other components, such as plastic, paper, glass, metals, and biodegradable waste. These types of waste are in most urbanized areas collected separately. The sorting level offers accurate information about each urbanization, to what extent its population is involved in separated waste collection. The paper focuses on analyzing the waste collection system in the selected locality and will examine the local waste sorting level development during the last few years.

Conversion of Sewage Sludge and Other Biodegradable Waste into High-Value Soil Amendment within a Circular Bioeconomy Perspective

Resource recovery from biodegradable waste is essential in order to reach the goals of zero circular economy waste generation and zero greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector. Waste whose management is a real challenge is sewage sludge, mainly because of high concentrations of heavy metals. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of material stabilization during aerobic stabilization of two feedstocks with sewage sludge obtained from different sources, namely, digestate from a municipal wastewater treatment plant and digestate from a co-digestion process. Moreover, the goal of the experiment was to assess the quality of compost in terms of remediation potential. The composting process was carried out for four different mixtures consisting of the mentioned digestates, municipal solid waste, and grass. A better composting efficiency with digestate from the co-digestion process was observed. In that case, a higher temperature in the thermophilic phase (>55 °C) and a higher organic matter loss ratio (60%) were obtained as compared to the process with digestate from wastewater treatment plant. Taking into account the fertilizing properties and the concentration of heavy metals, all obtained composts met the requirements set out in the Polish Regulation for organic fertilizers. Only the content of Helminth eggs in the composts produced with the digestate from the wastewater treatment plant was above the acceptable level. The research also proved that the produced composts can be used in the phytoremediation process of the degraded area. It was found that all composts caused a significant increase in fescue biomass. The highest yield was achieved for compost produced from a mixture with the addition of 30% sewage sludge from the co-digestion process.

Cemetery waste as a substream of municipal waste: research and structure of the selective waste collection in Poland

Cemetery waste (CW) constitutes one of the streams of municipal waste (MW). Based on the available data, it can be said that it accounts for about 1% of the mass of MW being generated in Poland. CW management should be carried out selectively. It is estimated that the level of CW selective collection is lower than the average level achieved for MW. This paper presents some solutions concerning the selective collection of CW implemented in selected municipal and denominational cemeteries in Poland. Based on research conducted, the levels of proper separation of glass and biodegradable waste in containers for their selective collection were determined, accordingly as >85% and >80%. Due to the contamination with paraffin residues, the purity of the selectively collected plastic fraction was lower than 20%. The human factor was recognized as the most significant determining efficiency of the selective collection of CW. Therefore, further education of society, as well as promoting good practices in the field of CW management, should be regarded as desirable.

Natural Fiber-based Green Composites: Processing, Properties and Biomedical Applications

Since the advent of modern technological civilization, tremendous pollution has been done in our environment by disposing of waste material in the environment unconsciously. Some waste materials are biodegradable and some of them are non-biodegradable. Biodegradable waste, originated from plants or animals can be decomposed by the natural organism (bacteria, fungi, etc.) and not be adding to pollution. This degradation process may be rapid or slow but the environmental risks are low. On the other hand, non-biodegradable waste, obtained from inorganic components cannot be decomposed by the natural organism and acts as a source of pollution. These wastes are being generated by humans and every year billions of tons of wastes are being dumped into the environment which puts our environment in danger. Even if it is late, mankind has realized that unless the nature is out of danger, he himself will be endangered. As a result, environmental consciousness has increased worldwide. This growing ecological and environmental awareness leads the world to develop eco-friendly materials. As the population grows day by day, it is not possible to reduce waste. So, it is wise to focus on developing new materials that would produce biodegradable waste. Recently the attraction on the biocomposite (known as green composites) materials has significantly increased because it is generated from natural fiber which is biodegradable and it has the potential of being a substitute for conventional non-biodegradable products. Biocomposites are used in various industrial sectors, including the bio-medical industry. In this paper, the overall idea of natural fibers, extraction and surface modification methods of natural fiber, Natural fiber-based biocomposites, fabrication and properties analysis of biocomposite,and recent applications of biocomposites in the bio-medical sector have been reviewed. The primary incentive for developing and using biocomposite is to build a new generation of eco-friendly materials by replacing synthetic ones.

Penanganan Sampah Plastik pada Produksi Paving Block

ABSTRACT Efforts to handle waste are continuously carried out, starting from the lowest layer, namely households, to large factories that produce garbage every day. Waste production that is not balanced with the handlers causes waste to be a problem for the environment. One type of waste that is difficult to decompose by nature (non-biodegradable) is plastic waste, which occupies the most considerable quantity of other types of waste. Based on statistical data, the amount of non-biodegradable waste that is disposed of in the final disposal site every day in several cities in Indonesia is 6,598.23 tons/day. This study aims to calculate the reduction in plastic waste if it is used in making paving blocks. Almost all variations are included in quality D outlined in SNI 03-0691-1996. Only two variations have below the required standard, namely 10% plastic: 90% sand and 60% plastic: 40% sand. In the variation 70% plastic: 30% sand, the plastic weight needed is 796.32 kg and in the variation 80% plastic: 20% sand, the need for plastic waste drops to 793.60 kg. The variation 70% plastic: 30% sand is recommended for production because it absorbs the most plastic waste from the calculations made. This study concluded that the potential for reducing plastic waste if it is used for the production of paving blocks is 3.9816 tons/day in the job mix with a variation of 70% plastic: 30% sand. Keywords: inorganic, paving blocks, plastic, garbage ABSTRAK Upaya penanganan sampah terus dilakukan mulai dari lapisan terbawah yaitu rumah tangga hingga pabrik besar yang menghasilkan sampah setiap hari. Produksi sampah yang belum berimbang dengan penanganan menyebabkan sampah masih menjadi masalah bagi lingkungan. Salah satu jenis sampah yang sulit diuraikan oleh alam (non-biodegradable) adalah sampah plastik, menempati kuantitas terbesar dari jenis sampah lainnya. Berdasarkan data statistik, jumlah sampah non-biodegradable yang dibuang ke TPA sampah setiap hari di beberapa kota di Indonesia sebesar 6.598,23 ton/hari. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menghitung potensi pengurangan sampah plastik apabila dimanfaatkan dalam pembuatan paving block. Hampir semua variasi masuk dalam mutu D yang digariskan dalam SNI 03-0691-1996. Hanya dua variasi memiliki kekuatan di bawah standar yang disyaratkan yaitu variasi 10% plastik: 90% pasir dan 60% plastik: 40% pasir. Pada variasi 70% plastik: 30% pasir, berat plastik yang dibutuhkan 796,32 kg dan pada variasi plastik 80%: 20% pasir, kebutuhan sampah plastik turun menjadi 793,60 kg. Dari perhitungan yang dilakukan maka variasi 70% plastik: 30% pasir yang direkomendasikan untuk diproduksi sebab menyerap paling banyak sampah plastik. Dalam penelitian ini disimpulkan bahwa potensi pengurangan sampah plastik jika dimanfaatkan untuk produksi paving block adalah sebesar 3,9816 ton/hari pada job mix dengan variasi 70% plastik: 30% pasir. Kata kunci: non-biodegradable, paving block, plastik, sampah

Municipal Solid Waste Thermal Analysis—Pyrolysis Kinetics and Decomposition Reactions

In this study, 12 organic waste materials were subjected to TG/DTG thermogravimetric analysis and DSC calorimetric analysis. These analyses provided basic information about thermochemical transformations and degradation rates during organic waste pyrolysis. Organic waste materials were divided into six basic groups as follows: paper, cardboard, textiles, plastics, hygiene waste, and biodegradable waste. For each group, two waste materials were selected to be studied. Research materials were (i) paper (receipts, cotton wool); (ii) cardboard (cardboard, egg carton); (iii) textiles (cotton, leather); (iv) plastics (polyethylene (PET), polyurethane (PU)); (v) hygiene waste (diapers, leno); and (vi) biodegradable waste (chicken meat, potato peel). Waste materials were chosen to represent the most abundant waste that can be found in the municipal solid waste stream. Based on TG results, kinetic parameters according to the Coats–Redfern method were determined. The pyrolysis activation energy was the highest for cotton, 134.5 kJ × (mol∙K)−1, and the lowest for leather, 25.2 kJ × (mol∙K)−1. The DSC analysis showed that a number of transformations occurred during pyrolysis for each material. For each transformation, the normalized energy required for transformation, or released during transformation, was determined, and then summarized to present the energy balance. The study found that the energy balance was negative for only three waste materials—PET (−220.1 J × g−1), leather (−66.8 J × g−1), and chicken meat (−130.3 J × g−1)—whereas the highest positive balance value was found for potato peelings (367.8 J × g−1). The obtained results may be applied for the modelling of energy and mass balance of municipal solid waste pyrolysis.