Abstract

ARDILA DELGADO, Jeyme Liset; CANO CORDOBA, Jonathan; SILVA PEREZ, Guillermo  and  LOPEZ ARANGO, Yolanda. Decomposition of organic waste in packs: physical, chemical, biological, environmental and sanitary aspects. Rev. P+L [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.2, pp.38-52. ISSN 1909-0455.

Introduction. The remains of solid organic waste have biodegradable elements or substances that have brought the necessity of more efficient technologies for their decomposition. Objective. Analyze physical, chemical, biological, environmental and sanitary aspects of solid organic waste by making packs. Methodology. Exploratory and descriptive study. The packs were made with garden pruning and fresh manure -50 % of each one- between February and June, 2011. Humidity, pH, weight, temperature, volume, leachate, gases, microorganisms, arthropods and rodents were monitored. 101 people from the academic community were surveyed. A database was made and, by means of an Epi-Info and Excel, the data were analyzed. Results. The pH oscillated between 6, 11-8, 9; humidity 30,1 % -67,3 %; maxim internal temperature, 57 ºC and minimum, 25 ºC, ambient temperature, 19-24ºC; there were no ammonia, methane or hydrogen sulfide during the sampling process; no rodents, flies or domestic cockroaches were found. The decomposition process was carried out by fungi, bacteria and decomposer arthropods. 76% of compost was produced. The educative community perceives the packs as a healthy, easy-to-handle and useful technique to develop recreational and teaching/learning activities. Conclusion. The technique of making packs acts as a biological and aerobic process that eases the interaction between microorganisms and arthropods for degrading organic waste by in a clean and healthy way, and is an option to sanitate organic waste, favor healthy environments and protect human and environmental health.

Keywords : organic waste; decomposition; environmental edutacion; packs; clean technique.

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