Recent Trends in Composting of Food Waste
Composting; Enzymes; Food waste; Humus; Key elements; Microorganisms
Accumulation of food waste materials, contaminated water, and air is an inevitable end result of the rapid expansion of cities across the world. Resource overconsumption remains never-ending, deteriorating the environment and society. Conventional food waste management practices, such as landfills, dumping, and incineration, are proven to be problematic in terms of inhabitants health risks and environmental contamination. Food waste management with a zero-waste approach is given the utmost priority in the present-day scenario and has become a significant part of our routine life. The avoidance and reduction of food waste are very important parts of waste management, as they have a huge impact on our lives and the environment. The conceivable solution is to valorize the food waste into a usable secondary raw material for its utilization in other industries. Composting is a systematic biological process, recognized as a cost-effective method for food waste management. It generates nutrient-rich manure for plant growth and development. This has offered opportunities for organic wastes, especially food waste, as nutrient sources for agriculture. Though traditional agricultural practices with inorganic fertilizers have helped in gaining high yields of crops, their aftereffects on soil have been dismissive. This has opened up a congenial platform for the use of organic manures like compost and vermicompost, due to their positive effects of enhancing soil quality over inorganic fertilizers. Microbial processes are gaining massive significance due to their realistic and eco-friendly nature, resulting in the recovery of biomolecules from food wastes and fermentation end products, ensuring zero waste. Composting strategies that can act on prominent food wastes such as vegetable market waste, fruit waste, slaughterhouse waste, chicken and fish waste, canteen/hotel waste, and house/residential waste will play a promising role in the recovery of sustainable resources. Finding new ways of reducing food waste disposal problems is a topic that must be of the greatest importance for every government, business, and individual. 2025 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Thazeem, Basheer; Umesh, Mridul; Kavana Somaiah, C.; Shaiby, Meghana; Antony, Rincy; Stanly, Liya Merin; Kalaiarasi, Giriraj
Resource Recycling and Management of Food Waste;pp.89-109
Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-86688-3_5 https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022351535?origin=resultslist
Thazeem B., Waste Management Division, Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC), Kerala, Palakkad, India; Umesh M., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bangalore, India; Kavana Somaiah C., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bangalore, India; Shaiby M., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bangalore, India; Antony R., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bangalore, India; Stanly L.M., Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bangalore, India; Kalaiarasi G., Department of Chemistry and Centre for Material Chemistry, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education (Deemed to be University), Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, India