Composting of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste as an alternative to the uncontrolled disposal: The case of Kalamata Municipality (Greece)

Abstract

Kalamata’s decentralized waste treatment and composting scheme is a demonstration of the capacity of a municipality to manage Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) by adopting methodologies that can be supported by small-scale mobile equipment. Ιn this study, the effort to treat MSW in the municipality of Kalamata with the minimum equipment while meeting the requirements of the law is presented. A mobile Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) system has been operating consisting of a sorting facility and a composting unit using closed-static aerated windrows. This paper attempts to analyze the characteristics of the proposed methodology as well as to set a framework for the optimal treatment of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) in small, decentralised units. A 3-phase scheme has been implemented (Phase 1-COLLECTION, Phase 2-COMPOSTING and Phase 3-MATURATION) where the material was placed in predefined places, in order to minimize the required area and ensure the composting process, while each composting round was optimized in 13 weeks. During the experiment, 65000 tons of MSW were treated in the MBT and 30000 tons were composted. The qualitative parameters of the composted material were monitored and found to be below the legislation limits.