Local Literature

Basin(2015) expalined that compost is decomposed organic material, such as leaves, grass clippings, and
kitchen waste. It provides many essential nutrients for plant growth and therefore is often used as
fertilizer. Compost also improves soil structure so that soil can easily hold the correct amount of
moisture, nutrients and air. It improves the texture of both clay soils and sandy soils, making either type
rich, moisture retentive, and loamy.Compost is one of nature’s best mulches and soil amendments. Most
gardeners know the value of this rich, dark, earthy material in improving the soil and creating a healthful
environment for plants. Understanding how to make and use compost is in the public interest, as the
problem of waste disposal continues to grow.

Foreign Literature

Sherman,R.(2017) cited that instead of disposing of yard trimmings and kitchen scraps, you can compost
them in your own backyard. Composting is an easy, fascinating, and natural way to recycle. Compost can
be made from most organic materials such as leaves, kitchen scraps, and yard trimmings, and it can
improve the health of your soil and plants. You can be as involved as you like with your compost pile:
simply stack things up and wait for nature to take its course, or turn, water, and monitor the pile to
speed up the process. When mixed with soil, compost increases the organic matter content, improves
the physical properties of the soil, and supplies essential nutrients, enhancing the soil’s ability to support
plant growth. Compost can also be applied to the soil surface to conserve moisture, control weeds,
reduce erosion, improve appearance, and keep the soil from gaining or losing heat too rapidly. This
publication explains how to build and maintain a compost pile and use the compost in your yard and
garden.

Shamaniego,J.(2017) stated that the management of urban waste streams in developing countries is not
optimized yet, and in many cases these wastes are disposed untreated in open dumps. This fact causes
serious environmental and health problems due to the presence of contaminants and pathogens.
Frequently, the use of specific low-cost strategies reduces the total amount of wastes. These strategies
are mainly associated to the identification, separate collection and composting of specific organic waste
streams, such as vegetable and fruit refuses from food markets and urban gardening activities.
Concretely, in the Chimborazo Region (Ecuador), more than 80% of municipal solid waste is dumped into
environment due to the lack of an efficient waste management strategy. Therefore, the aim of this study
was to develop a demonstration project at field scale in this region to evaluate the feasibility of
implanting the composting technology not only for the management of the organic waste fluxes from
food market and gardening activities to be scaled-up in other developing regions, but also to obtain an
end-product with a commercial value as organic fertilizer. Three co-composting mixtures were prepared
using market wastes mixed with pruning of trees and ornamental palms as bulking agents. Two piles
were created using different proportions of market waste and prunings of trees and ornamental palms:
pile 1 (50:33:17) with a C/N ratio 25; pile 2: (60:30:10) with C/N ratio 24 and pile 3 (75:0:25) with C/N
ratio 33), prepared with market waste and prunings of ornamental palm. Throughout the process, the
temperature of the mixtures was monitored and organic matter evolution was determined using
thermogravimetric and chemical techniques. Additionally, physico-chemical, chemical and agronomic
parameters were determined to evaluate compost quality. The results obtained indicated that all the
piles showed a suitable development of the composting process, with a significant organic matter
decomposition, reached in a shorter period of time in pile 3. At the end of the process, all the composts
showed absence of phytotoxicity and suitable agronomic properties for their use as organic fertilizers.
This reflects the viability of the proposed alternative to be scaled-up in developing areas, not only to
manage and recycle urban waste fluxes, but also to obtain organic fertilizers, including added value in
economic terms related to nutrient contents.

Peira,G.(2018) stated that food wastage has been widely discussed and investigated from different
perspectives in literature. The EU-28 produces about 88 million tonnes of food wastage every year,
making the awareness of this phenomenon a vital matter. This paper focuses on the outdoor-market
operators’ perception and behaviour towards the food waste phenomenon in a particular phase of the
agro-food supply chain. It assesses the different approaches used to manage unsold produce and its
destination. A sample of 214 market retailers in the Greater Torino market areas of Italy were identified,
to whom a questionnaire was administered by interview to analyze the main actors involved in the food-
wastage process and profile them according to their perception, behaviour, and attitude. The results
show that there are three distinct kinds of market operators, ie, farmers, peddlers, and hybrids. Their
attitudes and behaviour towards unsold food differ, as does their inclination towards a sustainable
approach, which depends on their personal experience and role in the supply chain. Moreover, the
results provide some relevant elements that may contribute to improving the management of the food-
waste phenomenon. Moreover, they bring some useful evidence to light that could lay the basis of more
effective tools to be put at the disposal of various institutions.
Local Study

Atega, M.J.(2018) stated that solid waste is one of the major problems in any congested urbanized area.
Metro Manila, one of the highly-urbanized cities in Southeast Asia, generated 3.596 million tons of solid
waste in 2014. Generally, this study determined the perception of the selected residents on household
composting in a highly urbanized area. Specifically, this investigation was able to learn the knowledge of
the residents on composting and solid waste management; described the discouraging factors they
encountered concerning composting activity; and identified the perceived benefits of the said
environmental action. The researchers gathered data through a series of in-depth interviews that were
conducted in Barangay 521, Zone 52, District IV, Sampaloc, Manila. Twenty (20) respondents were
selected through random sampling technique. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data
collected. Findings of the study showed that the residents were knowledgeable about segregation and
traditional composting. They were willing to do composting activity but they were not able to implement
it effectively because of several discouraging factors such as the lack of space, time constraint, and
unsystematic collection of waste. The residents perceived composting as a beneficial activity because it
can produce compost for agriculture, improve sanitary condition, and reduce the risk of flooding.
Consequently, if these discouraging factors would be eliminated, then they would be able to perform
proper ways of composting. The Local Government Units should provide appropriate trainings on how to
conduct composting activity properly using advanced technologies and scientific techniques.

Foreign Study

Koledzi, K. E.(2011) cited that this study concerns waste processing by composting in Lomé (Togo). It
presents the composition of this waste, the treatment by composting of this waste recovered in the
centers of transit and collected within individual households, an evaluation of its use as a fertilizer and
finally a market research to determine its economic value. The composition of the Municipal Solid Waste
showed that even though mineral components like sand and gravel represent the most important part of
the waste arriving at the final dump location, organic material makes up a large part of households
wastes. In order to determine the optimal conditions for composting biodegradable materials and for the
overall process, a study was launched at a transfer site within a district of Lomé. Four types of compost
were investigated, two with organics collected directly in households and two with raw waste stored at
transfer sites that had been collected by a non-governmental organization in charge of primary
collection. Amendment of the compost with natural fertilizer, natural phosphate and chicken manure
was also tested. It was found that the quality of the types of compost was quite similar except for the
one in which natural phosphate and manure had been added. Studies on the toxicity of the types of
compost on their agricultural effectiveness and their economic value were also carried out. The market
research demonstrated that the production costs of the compost were low enough to make it an
attractive and potentially profitable alternative to existing fertilizers such as manure.

Synthesis of Related Review of Literature and Studies

In this review it analyzed the importance of compost pit into organic fertilizer to support the plant
growth.Those studies also cover the effects of having compost pit by decomposed organic material, such
as leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen waste that provides many essential nutrients for plant growth and
therefore is often used as fertilizer. Compost can be made from most organic materials such as leaves,
kitchen scraps, and yard trimmings, and it can improve the health of your soil and plants.One study
stated that wastes that disposed untreated in open dumps can auses serious environmental and health
problems due to the presence of contaminants and pathogens and about 88 million tonnes of food
wastage every year, making the awareness of this phenomenon a vital matter. Some studies says that
composting and solid waste management have benefits on our environment.

Conclusion

Theoretical Framework

Mcnelly, J. (2009) Composting Theory – Agitation, Aeration and Inoculation. Nature does not “compost”,
meaning make piles. Nature mulches, meaning organic materials are left on the top of the soil as thin
layers. It is humans that make piles, and once material that might otherwise be left in a layer is placed in
a pile, the process, in a certain sense, is “un-natural”. Humans must add soil organisms to effect
decomposition in these “un-natural” piles, add water, and otherwise try to replicate the process of decay
in the topsoil. Over time, humans have attempted various strategies to optimize, enhance, accelerate or
otherwise control decomposition in pile.Dating back to 1877, there are over 5000 US patents describing
various composting methodologies, and invariably they all revolve around three principles, which are
agitation, aeration, and inoculation. Nearly all describe some form of agitation and or aeration in various
combinations. Less than a dozen of these patents describe a proprietary inoculant, and those that do are
associated more with specific types of fermentation or odor treatment of some form. In the United
States and Europe, few commercial composting technologies utilize cultured microbes or reagents,
relying instead on naturally occurring organisms commonly found in topsoils throughout the world.While
many have tried to introduce or optimize certain microbial populations in the composting process, but
research has shown that the same organisms that decompose organic matter in the soil are the ones
responsible for decomposition in the soil. In fact, decomposition is increasingly being understood as a
sequential process of over twenty microbial groups, with one group feeding off the remains of the
previous group. Adding one group of organisms out of proper sequence is typically ineffective, and
consequently compost system designers try to create conditions to let microbial sequencing occur at its
own natural rate, resulting in a product we call “compost’. Studies have shown that recycling finished
compost back into fresh material helps to optimize the rate of decomposition, seeding the old culture
back into the fresh material like making yoghurt, baking bread with yeast, or brewing beer.In simple
terms, composting methodologies rely, to varying degrees, on two actions; agitation and aeration. The
two are often mistaken for each other, as some operators claim that they “turn their pile” to provide
aeration, while data shows that a windrow actually consumes its oxygen in as little as 30 minutes,
making the

aeration value of windrow-turning insignificant. The purpose of aeration in a windrow is actually to

provide a short burst of aerobic heat to support heat loving anaerobic decomposition. The heat is
retained by the insulating properties of the pile, and eventually the pile must be turned again to reheat,
lest the anaerobes cool and stop decomposing.A rotating tube digester may be described as a
composting process that is 95% agitation and 5% aeration while an aerated static pile may be defined as
5% agitation and 95% aeration. But at only 24 to 72 hours retention and high capital cost, rotating tubes
should be used only for initial conditioning, not composting. I have never seen a rotating tube hold
temperatures over 55C for 72 hours, and material in process becomes contaminated due to commingling
with fresh material. The microbial populations are not optimized in such systems and often have to work
with other organisms that typically operate in a sequence, not simultaneously.Since mixing and agitation
is a more expensive proposition that supplying air with blowers, finding the “sweet spot” of minimal
agitation and maximum aeration is the goal of the NaturTech Composting System. The NaturTech
Composting System is a fully aerobic process and does not need “turning to generate heat” like non-
aerated piles. Forced air instead provides oxygen that microbes use to produce heat which must be
removed by air if the pile is not going to rise in temperature over 65C such that desired microbes die.
Pause to think that most compost users have never had the pleasant experience of using a fully aerobic
compost, as most windrow compost products are predominantly anaerobically digested.Two key claims
of Jim McNelly’s composting patents, of which the NaturTech Composting System is an example, are the
methodologies of aerated static piles in a container and secondly agitating, re-conditioning and or re-
mixing the material outside the container after a week or so. NaturTech may be described as a system
that is 75% aeration and 25% agitation. After the first seven days of static aeration, this one time
agitation event assists in achieving the optimum rate of decomposition and a uniform finished compost
product. The mix at seven days is an opportunity to add water, recover space lost in 30% volume
reduction, and re-homogenize the decomposing mass enabling the following groups of microbes to
become dominant.Although it is often referred to as an “enclosed aerated static pile”, the NaturTech
remixing option differentiates containerized composting from static piles that have no turning or
remixing stage. Conventional static piles are made with one-time use perforated plastic pipe and static
piles are tedious to construct, requiring a 300mm wood chip base and a 300mm wood chip cap, or cover.
Aerated static piles are associated with problems such as lack of homogeneity, channeling or short
circuiting of air, odors, incomplete digestion, and lack of uniformity in the finished compost. Aerated
static piles are often covered with fabric of some sort, a challenge to drape over the piles and remove.
Snow removal is by hand over these fabric covers.NaturTech’s concept of “moving the compost to the
mixer” instead of “moving the mixer through the compost” requires specialized equipment and material
handling practices designed to keep costs low. At first look, some operators see a large number of
containers and think that material-handling costs will be high. In actuality, however, NaturTech’s
containerized composting approach greatly reduces material handling requirements, providing some of
the lowest operating costs of any modern composting system. Front end loaders move up to 4 tons per
cycle with 225HP whereas a 20 or a 40 ton container can be moved with only 78 HP. This can result in up
to a $6.00 per ton savings in fuel alone.

The main reason to agitate a second time in the batch mixer, however, is to add water. The first five days
of composting are the most active, generating the most heat and requiring high volumes of air to keep
temperatures low. Heat exchange with air has the effect of removing moisture, often to levels below
50%, which can inhibit the next 14 days of composting. Many forced aeration systems such as tunnels
have been abandoned because the compost dries out too much to continue decomposition.
Reintroducing moisture is nearly impossible in tunnel reactors, static piles, or containerized systems that
do not use this patented NaturTech feature of external re-mixing. Even a theoretical auger routing its
way through a composting batch from the top is not a true homogenization process. It may agitate, but it
does not blend. Weighing the water using the scale on the conveyor and thoroughly homogenizing the
mass a second time it is far more reliable water addition method than having a person standing on top of
a windrow with a garden hose and a watch.