**References in this post need to be updated**
Composting is the biological decomposition of the biodegradable organic fraction of MSW under controlled conditions to a state sufficiently stable for nuisance-free storage and handling and for safe use in land applications [44].
Composting is the most widely employed MSWM technique in India, with above 56 composting plants in more than 43 cities [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [2]; most of these composting facilities handle between 100 – 1000 TPD of MSW [will attach an Appendix]. Composting is successful because it is a low cost and low infrastructure set-up and also produces compost, which is a marketable byproduct. The capital investment for building a composting plant is $ 4,476 per ton (INR 200,000) of waste processed [4] and the compost is being sold at $ 45 – 49 per ton (INR 2,000 – 2,200) [28]. Availability of government aid and rising entrepreneurial interest resulted in an upsurge in the number of composting facilities nationwide. Composting of MSW is undertaken by either of the two methods, a) Windrow composting or b) Vermicomposting. During the trip, I observed that vermicomposting was employed by towns or small cities generating MSW < 100 TPD, whereas larger cities employed mechanical windrow composting, which minimizes manual handling of wastes.
Fig 1: Rejects from the composting plant at Nasik (/Nashik)
