Estudo de composteiras e vermicomposteiras para tratamento de resíduos sólidos orgânicos

Abstract

Food production has been increasing in the last decades to meet world population growth, and with this, there is a proportional increase in the generation of organic waste, which is often destined incorrectly and may have negative impacts on the environment. An alternative to mitigate these impacts and to transform organic residues into stable compounds and biofertilizers is through composting and vermicomposting, both processes are promoted by the joint action of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in the organic oxidation of organic substrates. that in vermicompost there is addition of earthworms. This work has studied the composting and domestic vermicomposting process for the treatment of solid organic waste generated at the university restaurant of the Federal University of Pampa - Campus Caçapava do Sul. Experimental systems were implanted in a private property located near the campus. The efficiency and the efficiency of organic matter degradation of the systems fed with different substrate compositions were evaluated: 100% raw food and another with 70% raw and 30% cooked food. During the experiments, the following physico-chemical and biological parameters were monitored: temperature, humidity, pH, earthworm reproduction rate and volume of leachate generated. In addition to these parameters, analyzes of total solids and electrical conductivity of the leachate were performed. The results indicated that the most efficient organic solid waste treatment process for the campus of UNIPAMPA of Caçapava do Sul is vermicomposting, and should be constructed of masonry in the soil with sufficient dimensions to accommodate the amount generated in the university restaurant, since the reactors of compost used in this work are not feasible to meet large capacities. The reproduction rate of the worms was higher in the experiment without cooked residues. The addition of cooked residues to the experiments does not make the process unfeasible, but makes the process more complex, generates bad odors and attracts insects.