Introduction to Organic Wastes and Its Management

Abstract

Each year, approximately 38 billion metric tons of organic wastes are produced all over the world. Human behaviour, consumption rate, and population explosion are the generally proposed factors responsible for this dramatic increase. As wastes materials are always considered to be either unusable or disposable, burning and deposition has always been the result. Burning and deposition in turn results in numerous environmental problems. Burning pollutes atmosphere whereas land disposal of organic waste materials may directly or indirectly alter the heavy metal status of the soil by affecting metal solubility or dissociation kinetics (Del Castilho et al. J Environ Qual 22:689–697, 1993). In order to deal with this challenging area, various treatment methods and practices have been formulated and applied by countries all over the world. Hence, much attention has been paid to convert such nutrient-rich organic waste materials into useful outcome for sustainable agricultural practices (Suthar Biorem. J 13(1):21–28, 2009). The utilization of the organic materials of animal and plant origin is a viable means of improving soil fertility and a reliable way of disposing wastes (Adegunloye et al. Pak J Nutr 6(5):506–510, 2007). Solid organic waste is understood as organic-biodegradable waste with a moisture content below 85–90 % and these organic materials are recycled by a variety of decomposer microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and detritus-feeding invertebrates.