Disposal of municipal garbage by composting
Behe, R.A.
J Environ Health 27(5): 824-829
1965
Accession: 024501092
Composting of garbage may become the method of the future for disposal of municipal refuse. Today cities in the USA are seeking new and better ways of refuse disposal while, in Europe and Israel, they are more concerned with re-vitalizing the soil. Composting is flexible because it may be located in or adjacent to a community without presenting any public health problems. It may be located in conjunction with a community sewage plant where dried sewage or dewatered sludge may be composed along with municipal garbage. This would allow communities to dispose of their sewage and garbage as a "packaged deal". Although sanitary landfill disposal of non-compostables and non-salvageable items would be a necessary part of a composting refuse disposal system, this remaining material would be a small percentage of the total refuse. Pennsylvania has one of the few successful composting plants in the USA. Altoona FAM has been in operation for 3 1/2 years and, during this period, it has proven that composting is a safe and practical method of refuse disposal. Among the problem which have arisen and needs further research is the recirculation of water from the dewatering screws. Some problems in pH have been encountered which result in odors when the pH drops to around 4.0. These can be eleminated through proper pH control or by adding fresh water to the grinders. It the latter is chosen, a sewer line would connect to the sewage plant from the compost plant to dispose of the waste water. The Fairfield Engineering Company of Merion, Ohio, built and developed the digestor, the 1st of its kind in the composting industry. This digestor provides an excellent method for composting garbage. Cleanliness and sanitation are built into this operation saving time and expense. The operation is fully automatic and involves little manpower. There are no public health problems connected with the operation. It is flexible in that it can be applied to any composting operation and can be used for digestion of garbage as well as sewage sludge.