International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Guwahati city, gateway to North-East India, is undergoing rapid urbanization due to which it experiences lack of landfill for municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal. The city generates 626 tons of waste daily including vegetable market waste that is dumped directly in the landfill without treatment. This generates not only greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and pollution but also leads to scarcity of land. In an attempt to reduce the volume of the waste at the source, at least the organic fraction, an experiment of composting has been carried out in the Assam down town University campus, Guwahati. The process of composting is done on a wooden pit by collecting the vegetable market waste from the nearby area of the University. The composting is made aerobic by inserting a perforated pipe through the pit. The composting process took several weeks to complete and another two to three weeks for curing of the manure. Test results of the manure revealed that it can be used in agricultural field for soil amendment.
Since pit composting requires very less space, the findings of this experiment suggest that if each vegetable market of the city sets up a small composting plant within the market or in a nearby area the problem of waste disposal can be minimized to a great extent.

Index Terms—Pit composting, market waste, natural aeration, C/N ratio, aerobic, Guwahati.

The authors are with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Assam Down town University, India (e-mail: ralbi.roy@gmail.com).

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Cite: Rajiv Lochan Bikash Roy, Rejaoon Al Rejah, Kangkan Baruah, Rasna Saikia, and Surojit Dey, "Decentralized Composting of Vegetable Market Waste through Pit Composting: An Alternative for Urban City Waste," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 295-298, 2017.