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Evaluation of standards and procedures to regulate production and quality of municipal compost in the Philippines.

In emerging economies were municipal solid waste typically consists of a high proportion of organic residues which amounts up to 60% mass or more composting is a favorable technology to transfer that part of waste into a marketable product for agriculture or gardening to improve soil fertility especially in nutrient deficient and/or devastated areas through its humus and mineral content. However, application potentials including marketing opportunities depend on high quality of the produced composts which term refers to valuable criteria such as organic matter content or plant nutrients, as well as precautionary environmental criteria such as hygienic aspects and the content of potentially toxic substances.

This is of highest importance in the case organic components of municipal solid waste (MSW) are used for composting. Only source separated organics must be applied for compost production since the quality of the compost by no means will be better than the raw material was. Good composting practice is another pre-condition for a good result. Low quality compost will become rejected by potential users, and a composting industry eventually cannot be established or successfully sustained in this way. For proper composting and high quality products a specific legislation is necessary which may consider best international practices for composting adapted to the concrete situation on site and the amount to be treated. However this is in many cases missing or differs from values given by best composting practices after long term international experiences. In the Republic of the Philippines composting is on its way to become a part of MSW management systems on all levels from Municipalities to Provinces. Standards for composting are under development as part of the Organic Agriculture Act established in 2010. This situation may be seen as typical, and therefore it can be used a case study, for the situation in many other emerging economies where establishing of green technology becomes a mayor political issue. In the Philippines the Organic Agricultural Act favors the usage of compost as a soil improving agent and a plant fertilizer. Amongst sources of raw material for composting besides agricultural residues, MSW components were also listed. A specification of quality parameters was detailed in the National Standard by 2008. The evaluation of the standards results in the following statement: The regulation is not really clear and easily applicable. A 'positive listâ€� of material suitable or accepted for composting and production of fertilizers is missing and should be prepared after regional substrate availability or waste produced. Moreover, the values allocated for quality parameters are in many instances far from what is proven internationally e.g. by ECN network or by long term tried and tested national regulations. This will make it difficult to establish a compost industry and introduce compost into agriculture supporting green technology. A part of the values seem very strict. An example is the number of foreign material which after the Standard has to be totally removed. ECN proposals include a practical value in case of pieces larger than 2 mm. In case of heavy metals some values exceed the ECN proposals by more than fivefold. It is proposed to consider the typical situation for small composting plants which are typical for the treatment of organics separately collected in most of the Municipalities and which will not exceed an amount of 6,000 tons per year. A simple but highly effective process control especially with respect to hygienisation involves the temperature measurement in the composting pile. Same can be considered proven if the temperature will exceed 55°C over 10 days or 65°C over 3 days. A sophisticated sanitary test procedure is also not necessary in case proven technologies were applied such as windrows. Quality of the end product may be defined also after its maturation state which term refers to the degree of decomposition of the organic matter. Here it is not necessary to totally decompose the organics as it is ruled in the Standard but to determine the maturation degree after the simple self heating test in a Dewar flask.

Copyright:	© European Compost Network ECN e.V.
Quelle:	Orbit 2012 (Juni 2012)
Seiten:	7
Preis:	€ 7,00
Autor:	PD Dr.-Ing. Konrad Soyez Engr. Jouke Boorsma Dr. Johannes Paul
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