Resources, Conservation and Recycling 65 (2012) 79–84

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Resources, Conservation and Recycling

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Full length Article

Effect of turning frequencies on composting biodegradable municipal

solid waste quality
T. Getahun a,b,∗ , A. Nigusie a , T. Entele a , T. Van Gerven b , B. Van der Bruggen b,1
a
Jimma University, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, P.O. Box 378, Jimma, Ethiopia
b
K.U. Leuven-Department of Chemical Engineering, Division of Applied Physical Chemistry and Environmental Technology, W. de Croylaan 46, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The objective of this study was to investigate effects of turning frequency on physical, chemical and
Received 12 January 2012 biological properties of municipal solid waste compost. A fixed turning frequency was compared with a
Received in revised form 11 May 2012 temperature-controlled turning method. The moisture content of the treatments was adjusted to 50–60%
Accepted 12 May 2012
in all cases. The results showed that the turning frequency significantly (P < 0.01) affected temperature,
pH, total carbon, total nitrogen, the carbon to nitrogen ratio and the head weight of lettuce grown on the
Keywords:
compost. However, the turning frequency did not significantly (P > 0.05) affect electrical conductivity.
Municipal waste
High losses of total carbon and nitrogen were observed in the frequently turned compost bin. However,
Biodegradable organic waste
Composting
high plant nutrient content and reasonable concentration of heavy metals with no restrictions for use
Turning frequency in agriculture were observed in all bins except for Molybdenum in bin A (turned every time when the
temperature either decreases or becomes constant for three consecutive days) and B (turned every week).
Interestingly, plant growth bioassays indicated that the seedling emergences, head weight and leaf area of
lettuces were higher in less frequently turned compost. Therefore, composting of municipal solid waste,
in particular at a low frequency of turning, can be the best strategy to manage solid waste and boost
agricultural productivity.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction (Hargreaves et al., 2008). The turning frequency is commonly

Composting of municipal waste and using the compost for
agricultural purposes is a quickly growing and viable option to
manage urban waste in both the developed and developing world
(Drechsel and Kunze, 2001). Composting provides the environ-
mental benefit of diverting waste from landfill sites, and health
benefits by reducing the survival and spread of pathogens in
waste. Furthermore, the end product is a valuable soil fertilizer
(Hassen et al., 2001). Thus, composting could be the best municipal
waste management strategy. However, its safe use in agriculture
depends on the production of good quality compost, specifically,
compost that is mature and sufficiently low in metals and salt con-
tent.
The compost quality is dependent on many sources of varia-
tion including the composting procedure and length of maturation
∗ Corresponding author at: Jimma University, Department of Environmental
Science and Technology, P.O. Box 378, Jimma, Ethiopia. Tel.: +251 471116141;
mobile: +251 917804089.
E-mail addresses: tadesse.getahun@ju.edu.et (T. Getahun),
bart.vanderbruggen@cit.kuleuven.be (B.V.d. Bruggen).
1
Tel. +32 16322726; fax: +32 16322991.
believed to be a factor that affects the rate of decomposition as
well as compost quality (CCQC, 2001; Ogunwande et al., 2008).
Complete composting normally allows for the degradation of phy-
totoxic intermediates and synthetic compounds, such as herbicides,
as well as allowing for leaching of salts (Blewett et al., 2007). On
the other hand, a high turning frequency requires labor-intensive
management of the composting site.
The effects of turning frequency on composting have been exam-
ined already by several authors. All of them agree that there is a
relationship between turning frequency of composting and some
physicochemical parameters that may serve as compost maturity
indicators (CCQC, 2001). Turning affects (P < 0.05) moisture content,
dry matter, pH, total carbon, total nitrogen, C/N ratio and temper-
ature of composting piles (Tiquia et al., 1997; Wong et al., 2001;
Ogunwande et al., 2008).
However, when applying municipal solid waste for com-
posting, properties such as: heavy metal concentration in the
compost, microbiological activity and reference plant growth
should be assessed as well. This information is currently scarce
in the scientific literature. Therefore, the present study aims
to examine the effects of turning frequency on some physico-
chemical properties of composting biodegradable municipal solid
waste.

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80 T. Getahun et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 65 (2012) 79–84
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Description of the study area
The study was conducted in Jimma city, which is located 350 km
south-west of Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia). Its geographical
coordinates are approximately 7◦ 41 N latitude and 36◦ 50 E lon-
gitude. The city is found in an area of average altitude of about
1780 m above sea level. During this study, the maximum and the
minimum temperature of the area were observed to be 28 ◦ C and
20 ◦ C, respectively while the maximum and the minimum relative
humidity were 91% and 40%, respectively.
2.2. Composting and sampling
Composting experiments were carried out on the premises of
Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.
Three composting bins each having a volume of 1 m3 were con-
structed out of timber in which biodegradable municipal solid
waste containing vegetables and fruit waste, loose grass and dry
leaves was put, after sorting, chopping into pieces and mixing with
saw dust. The waste was collected from households, cafeterias,
street sweeping and institutions.
The mixture was prepared so as to optimize the composting
parameters, i.e. the moisture content of the feedstock was adjusted
to 50–60% by sprinkling water on the surface of the composting
mixture and the C/N ratio was adjusted to be 30/1 using compost
mix calculator (NRAES, 2011).
As a result, the mixture of the feedstock was prepared from
saw dust (4 parts by volume), vegetables (3 parts), fruits (2 parts),
dry leaves (3 parts) and soft dry woods (1 part). Soft dry woods
were used as bulking agents to increase particle size and maintain
adequate porosity and aerobic conditions in compost piles.
Three turning frequencies were applied: the first bin (A) was
turned every time when the temperature either decreases or
becomes constant for three consecutive days. This resulted in16
turnings over the total duration of the experiment (i.e. 15 weeks).
The second bin (B) and third bin (C) were turned every week (15
turnings) and two weeks (7 turnings), respectively. During the com-
posting processes temperature was measured three times daily
at different depth and different positions inside the pile and the
average daily temperature is reported in this paper.
Samples from bottom, surface, side, and centre of the compost
pile were also taken every week and mixed together before analysis
to make them representative of the composting pile. Each sample
was air-dried, ground down into a fine powder and analyzed for
electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total nitrogen, carbon and phos-
phorus as well as heavy metal content.
Finally, the compost was cured when the pile ceased reheating
after turning above ambient air temperature to finish its natural
reactions by just leaving it for 21 days in a pile at the corner of
an open but shaded place. It was also mixed regularly to acceler-
ate reactions during this period of time (Cooperband, 2002; CCME,
2005).
2.3. Chemical analysis
Electrical conductivity and pH were measured in a sample:
water ratio of 1:5 (FAI, 2007; TMECC, 2002). Ash content was deter-
mined after ignition at 600 ◦ C for 3 h (Garcia-Gomez et al., 2003)
and total organic carbon was estimated from ash content using
a standard formula (Singh, 2004). Total N was determined using
the macro-Kjeldahl distillation method (TMECC, 2002; FAI, 2007).
Total phosphorus was analyzed using a spectrophotometer (Model
6300l, Jenway, UK) and ascorbic acid method while the remaining
metal and nutrient contents of the final product was analyzed using
atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS, Analytik Jena, novAA
300) after digestion of 1 g (dw) of pulverized sample with pure nitric
acid (TMECC, 2002).
2.4. Analysis of presence of bacterial colonies
To isolate and enumerate population of bacteria from composts,
1 g of compost was placed in 99 ml of 0.1% water agar. The mixture
was blended for 45 s on high speed in a Waring blender. Ten-
fold dilution series were prepared with sterile distilled water, and
0.1 ml of the suspensions was aliquoted onto four replicate plates
of appropriate culture media. The plates were incubated for 72 h at
24 ◦ C. Colonies were enumerated, and populations were expressed
as Colony Forming Unit per gram (dry weight) of compost (Craft
and Nelson, 1996).
2.5. Greenhouse experiment
A greenhouse experiment was conducted in order to determine
the suitability of composted municipal waste for plant growth. An
agronomic trial was conducted on lettuce plants. Lettuce (Lactuca
sativa) was selected as a test crop since it is the most commonly
grown vegetable in the study area. The compost samples were col-
lected from each bin (i.e. A, B and C) and applied at the rate of 50%
(v/v) and 100% (v/v) in a plastic pot. Soil without compost was used
as the control.
2.6. Data analysis
To compare the effect of turning frequency on compost param-
eters a paired t-test comparison was used and for agronomic
trial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed using SAS 9.2.
A means separation was done using least significant difference
(LSD) test after treatments were found significant at P < 0.01 (Arenz
and Duncan, 2011). However, the standard deviations as shown
in Table 4 are very low. Consequently, the analysis was carried
out using the average values in order not to generate an excessive
number of data, which would show the same trends.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Temperature
The temperature profile in the three bins as a function of time
is shown in Fig. 1. At the beginning of the composting process,
all the piles were in a thermophilic stage since the temperature
exceeded 60 ◦ C. However, the temperature started to drop to 30 ◦ C
and below during the final stage of composting. The slight increases
in the pile temperatures immediately after each turning operation
in the early days of composting are attributed to the re-activation
of the composting process, which is explained by mixing to pro-
vide degradable substrate from the surface or external parts of the
composting pile for the microbial biomass in the center.
The temperature at bin A and B was 60 ◦ C starting from 3rd day of
composting until the first turning (7th day for bin B and 8th day for
bin A) and dropped to the mesophilic stage very quickly after turn-
ing while in bin C, the thermophilic period lasted for 15 days (first
turning). This variation in the pattern of temperature resulted from
the turning frequency of the piles. In bin A, the turning frequency
was the highest (16 times) in the whole composting period thus the
temperature dropped rapidly and the compost reached to its matu-
rity in a relatively short period of time. However, since the turning
frequency in bin C was the lowest (7 times, at a 2-weekly rate) in the
whole composting period, air circulation was likely to be inhibited,
and as a result, the temperature decreased and the decomposition
process became very slow. Consequently, it reached the maturity
 T. Getahun et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 65 (2012) 79–84 81

Fig. 1. Temperature progress and turning frequency of compost; arrows indicate the moments of turning in bin A.

Fig. 2. Effect of turning frequency on the pattern of pH and electrical conductivity.

stage after a relatively longer period of time. The statistical analy-
sis also confirmed a significant (P < 0.01) difference in temperature
among turning frequencies in bin A, B and C. Tiquia et al. (1997)
also reported a significant effect of the turning frequency on the
pattern of temperature in the composting process.
production of organic acids during the decomposition process. In
conformity with this finding, Ahmed et al. (2007), Ogunwande et al.
(2008) and Zameer et al. (2010) reported a decreasing pattern of pH
and EC during composting.

3.3. Total nitrogen, total carbon and C/N ratio

3.2. Electrical conductivity and pH
The statistical analysis showed a significant (P < 0.01) decrease
During composting the value of electrical conductivity (EC)
in organic carbon fraction in compost as the turning frequency
decreased from 3.9 to 2.0 mS/cm in 7 weeks (Fig. 2). From the 8th
increased (Table 1). The carbon content of each bin at the begin-
week on, EC remained constant. Moreover, the turning frequency
ning of composting was around 44%. The values were observed to
showed a slight but not significant (P > 0.05) effect on EC (Table 1)
decrease to 17% (Fig. 4). This trend is likely to be due to loss of
may be because of equal amount of watering all bins during com-
carbon as CO2 during composting. Since the decomposition pro-
posting. The decreasing pattern in EC during composting might be
cess was the fastest in bin A, the highest carbon loss was observed
due to leaching of salts from the composting piles resulting from
at bin A while the lowest carbon loss was observed for pile C. A
watering. The EC of the final compost remained for all bins under
decrease in carbon content with increasing turning frequency was
the salinity limit value of 3 mS/cm for use in agriculture (Singh,
also reported by Ahmed et al. (2007) and Ogunwande et al. (2008).
2004).
The turning frequency also showed a significant (P < 0.01) effect
The study showed a significant difference in pH (P < 0.01) among
on the pattern of total nitrogen (Table 1). The highest value of total
the turning frequencies (Table 1). The values decreased rapidly in
nitrogen was observed in pile C (lowest turning frequency) while
bin A while only gradually dropping in B and C. At the start of com-
the lowest value of total nitrogen was observed in pile A (highest
posting, the pH values were around 8.3 in all composting bins but
turning frequency) (Fig. 3). This is due to turning, which exposes
the pH gradually decreased to 7.7 in the final composting prod-
fresh material to microbial colonization and leads to the release of
uct (Fig. 2). The continuous dropping of pH values could be due to
NH3 that has accumulated in the internal void spaces of the com-
post (Ogunwande et al., 2008; Tirado, 2008; Kalamdhad and Kazmi,
Table 1 2009).
Paired t-test comparison for temperature, pH, EC, OC, TN and C/N between turning The C/N ratio was also affected significantly (P < 0.01) by the
frequencies. turning frequency (Table 1). However, there was no significant
Treatments Temperature pH EC OC TN C/N (P > 0.05) difference between bin A and bin B. The value of C/N was
higher at the beginning of composting but was later observed to
Bin A–Bin B 11.06** 3.65** 2.16 6.09** 13.13** 1.17
Bin A–Bin C 15.72** 5.92** 1.39 11.78** 16.75** 2.72*
decrease with time (Fig. 4). The decreasing pattern in the C/N ratio
Bin B–Bin C 8.58** 3.30** 1.77 6.01** 11.78** 3.06** from 30:1 to 17:1 proves the formation of a stable product. The
highest C/N ratio was observed for bin C while the lowest C/N ratio
EC, electrical conductivity; OC, organic carbon; TN, total nitrogen; C/N, carbon to
nitrogen ratio. was observed for bin A. This variation is attributed to more rapid
*
Significant at P < 0.05. decomposition in bin A that resulted faster in more stable materials
**
Significant at P < 0.01. than in bin C.
82 T. Getahun et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 65 (2012) 79–84

Fig. 3. Effect of turning frequency on the pattern of total organic carbon (TC, %) and total nitrogen (TN, %).

Fig. 4. Effect of turning frequency on the pattern of C/N ratio.

3.4. Plant nutrients and heavy metal concentration an increase of moisture, thus increasing the solubility of metals
(Soumaré et al., 2003; Zorpas et al., 2003).
The availability of all the nutrients, except Ca, was similar for
bin A and B. The similarity of the nutrient content in both bins 3.5. Presence of bacterial colonies
may be attributed to their total turning frequency. Bin A and bin
B were turned 16 and 15 times, respectively, in the whole com- Bacterial colonies were not detected in the final product of com-
posting period. The concentration of plant nutrients in the final posting. This could be due to the high production of temperature
product of composting was significantly (P < 0.01) affected by the during the thermophilic phase of composting (Hassen et al., 2001).
turning frequency. The concentration of K, Mg, Fe and P was higher Turning increases the air flow through the pile and its porosity and
in bin A and B than C (Table 2). This variation could be due to give the bacteria more oxygen to consume and produce heat in the
high decomposition rate in bin A and B, which resulted in a rapid pile. Pile “heat” is a by-product of biological “burning” – the aerobic
release of plant nutrients from the original feedstock. High min- oxidation of organic matter to carbon dioxide so that microbes can
eralization rate in frequently turned composts was also indicated generate energy. An optimal condition for rapid, aerobic compost-
by Soumaré et al. (2003), Zorpas et al. (2003), and Kalamdhad and ing is 54–60 ◦ C (Cooperband, 2002). The temperature above 60 ◦ C
Kazmi (2009). during composting causes a significant elimination of pathogens
In all composting bins, the concentrations of heavy metals in the (Eliot, 1997; Dumontet et al., 1999; Hassen et al., 2001).
final product were below the values set by (CCME, 2005) except for
Mo in bins A and B. The concentrations of Cr, Mo and Ni in bin A 3.6. Plant growth bioassay
and As, Co, Zn, and Cd in bin B were observed to be higher than in
bin C. Only Pb was observed to be higher in concentration in bin The mean values of leaf area and fresh head weight of lettuce
C than in bins A and B (Table 3). The highest loss of heavy metals in potting media amended with different rates of municipal solid
mainly occurs during the thermophilic phase (Ahmed et al., 2007), waste compost were presented in Table 4. Significant (P < 0.01) dif-
which lasted longer in bin C than in the other bins. Higher metal ferences in leaf area and fresh head weight between the treatments
release can be attributed to decomposition of organic matter and were observed. The leaf area ranged from 196 mm2 when compost
C was applied at the rate of 100% (v/v) to 123 mm2 in the control
plants. Similarly, the highest value of fresh head weight (242 g) was
Table 2
Available plant nutrients in compost. observed for bin C when applied at the rate of 100% (v/v) compost
while the smallest value of head fresh weight (72.3 g) was observed
Nutrients Bin A(g/kg DM) Bin B(g/kg DM) Bin C(g/kg DM) P-value
for the control pot (Table 4). The variation in crop yield in these
*
Ca 3.07c 4.12b 5.38a bins could be because of the slight difference of available nutrients
*
K 1.13a 1.15a 0.69b among them.
*
Fe 2.20ab 2.62a 1.75b
Mg 0.732a 0.778a 0.585b * The highest values of leaf area and fresh head weight in 100%
P 2.24a 2.10a 1.61b * compost can be attributed to the presence of a large amount of plant
N 10.4b 10.8b 11.3a *
nutrients in composted municipal waste. In harmony with this find-
DM, dry matter. Values followed by the different letters representing the bins from ing Olfati et al. (2009) and Tirado (2008) reported that Municipal
which they are significantly different (P < 0.01). Solid Waste Compost (MSWC) improved development and yield of
*
Significant at P < 0.01. lettuces, egg plant and cucumber.
 T. Getahun et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 65 (2012) 79–84 83

Table 3
Heavy metal contents of compost and recommended maximum limits.

Trace elements Maximum concentration(mg/kg DM)a Observed concentration (mg/kg DM)

Bin A Bin B Bin C

Arsenic (As) 13 6.35 7.86 6.64

Cobalt (Co) 34 11.3 12.0 10.0
Chromium (Cr) 210 88.3 63.0 62.0
Copper (Cu) 400 <1 <1 <1
Molybdenum (Mo) 5 6.63 5.21 4.78
Nickel (Ni) 62 39.0 32.3 30.0
Selenium (Se) 2 <1 <1 <1
Zinc (Zn) 700 286 473 296
Cadmium (Cd) 3 0.17 0.26 0.14
Mercury (Hg) 0.8 <1 <1 <1
Lead (Pb) 150 22.5 31.5 43.4

DM, dry matter.

a
Source: Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), 2005 Guideline.

Table 4 nitrogen and carbon as a result of volatilization of N as NH3 and

Effect of turning frequency and rate of application on yield and leaf number of lettuce
C as CO2 . Therefore, turning, although providing the desired com-
plant.
post at a lower rate, is beneficial for plant growth in the eventual
Treatments Compost Leaf area (mm2 ) Fresh head application. Obviously, this might be plant-specific and should be
application rate (%) (g/plant)
confirmed for the major plant types. In the case of lettuce the most
Soil alone 0 122 ± 4c 72.29 ± 2.69f commonly grown vegetable in the region of Jimma, it implies that
Bin A 100 192 ± 5a 238.7 ± 2.6a a less extensive procedure of composting yields better results.
50 143 ± 9bc 182.3 ± 3.5c Therefore, nations should be encouraged by waste management
Bin B 100 152 ± 12b 209.8 ± 3.3b
authorities because this action leads to waste reduction at landfill,
50 124 ± 3c 151.7 ± 3.0d job creation and production of organically produced food crops.
Bin C 100 196 ± 7a 242.2 ± 2.7a
50 163 ± 9b 109.7 ± 2.9e Acknowledgments
* *
P-value
LSD (0.05) 22.49 8.62 The authors would like to thank the Flemish Institutional Uni-
CV (%) 3.85 11.12 versity Cooperation (IUC) and Jimma University (JU) partnership
LSD, least significance difference; CV, coefficient of variation. Values followed by dif- program for funding this study and Jimma city administration for
ferent letters represent the bins from which they are significantly different (P < 0.05). cooperating with researchers at the time of data collection. Special
*
Significant at P < 0.01. thanks to Jimma University College of Agriculture administration
for providing the experiment site and permission to use their lab-
Nitrogen is vital for the growth of plants; however, due to con- oratory facilities.
tinuous turning and release of NH3 (Kalamdhad and Kazmi, 2009),
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