Biotechnology for Zero Waste – Emerging Waste Management Techniques (Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain (editor) etc.)

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Microbes and their Consortia as Essential Additives for the

Composting of Solid Waste

Mansi Rastogi and Sheetal Barapatre

Maharshi Dayanand University, Department of Environment Sciences, Rohtak, 124001, India

8.1

Introduction

The major contributing factors for solid waste (SW) management are population

explosion, migration to urban areas, industrialization, urbanization, and indis-

criminate disposal of SW. The first two main contributors will result in a surge

of megacity population that mandates strategizing a solid waste management

(SWM) plan [1]. The major steps toward this shall include collection of solid waste,

transportation to spot locations, and processing and disposal of the waste through

technologies (biological or chemical).

Indian SWM rules (2000) were drafted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest,

providing all the necessary guidelines for efficient collection, processing, and dis-

posal of the solid waste. Even though the present SWM system appears competent

enough, deeming the last few decades (changing waste characteristics and volume)

fewer modifications in the process might prove vital. These modified SWM practices

may promote source material reduction, recycling, energy recovery, and waste sta-

bilization prior to landfilling. However, it might differ and depend on the country,

state, rural–urban setup, and government authorities [2].

8.2

Classiﬁcation of Solid Waste

According to the statistics, the last decade has witnessed a sharp increase in the

quantity of solid waste generation. This is the unavoidable outcome of expansion,

production, and consumption activities practiced in any economy, clearly reflecting

the improvement in socioeconomic status. The rapid expansion of urban, agricul-

tural, and industrial sectors results in population increase that adds up to the SW

problems, thereby polluting environment and faster depletion of resources. The

quantity of waste generated in any country/state/society mainly depends on the

population and lifestyle of the inhabitants. Thus, waste reduction and management

becomes a social responsibility and appropriate management of solid waste will

Biotechnology for Zero Waste: Emerging Waste Management Techniques, First Edition.

Edited by Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain and Ravi Kumar Kadeppagari.