Household Waste Disposal Leading to Economic Appliance

Abstract

Waste volume is alarmingly rising in the world. India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world (next to China) with 221.431 million metric tons. Urban India is reported to generate 68.8 million tons of Municipal solid waste (MSW) per year with a per capita waste generation rate of 500 g/person/day. Municipal solid waste (MSW) needs to be segregated to collect separately organic biodegradable at its source (before disposal). Many types of compost bins like polyethylene portable twin drum, rotary drum, plastic basket bin, etc. are available in the market for converting all kinds of kitchen waste into fertilizer. Each bin has its own advantages and disadvantages. The cost of the bin available in the market varies from Rs. 1,000 to Rs.17, 000. Moreover, the available bins do not maintain proper process condition for the degradation of bio-waste. Hence, those bins are not the best for household purpose in terms of the degradation time and extent of degradation of the kitchen waste. A bioprocess-based household waste disposal devise has been proposed. The proposed device has the potential to treat our biodegradable daily- household-wastes/kitchen waste very quickly instead of throwing them to the municipal garbage bin/Green bins. The decomposed wastes are viscous liquids / solids can be used as a soil conditioner in our urban kitchen gardens. An organic decomposer has been also prepared using various natural ingredients. The optimum temperature was in the range 40oC±3 to achieve the satisfactory NPK value. The measured pH and moisture content of the bio-mass at the optimum temperature were nearly neutral and 45-50 (%), respectively. The NPK value of the decomposed waste was found satisfactory. The power requirement was found to be minimal. The proposed temperature controlled decomposer (e decomposer) is found to be a promising concept to convert kitchen waste in to soil conditioner.