Organic Waste Generation and Its Valorization Potential through Composting in Shashemene, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Composting organic waste and human excreta could significantly reduce the amount of waste dumped and increase soil fertility and agricultural yields. However, studies focusing on the replacement of mineral fertilizer with compost from these resources are rare. The presented study quantifies the potential of human excreta and other organic waste for compost production. During wet and dry seasons, the generation and composition of household solid waste (HSW) was measured from three wealth categories: poor, medium, and rich, as well as the organic waste generated from 20 commercial facilities. Furthermore, the amount of human excreta, when converting unimproved into ecological sanitation facilities, was assessed. The HSW generation was significantly higher in the wet (0.77 ± 0.07 kg fresh weight (FW) cap−1 day−1) compared to the dry season (0.54 ± 0.04 kg FW cap−1 day−1). Organic waste was the main component of HSW in the dry and wet seasons, accounting for 84% and 76% of the total HSW, respectively. Annually, about 6824 Mg of organic dry matter could be collected from households, 212 Mg from commercial units, and 12,472 Mg from ecological sanitation. With these resources, 11,732 Mg of compost could be produced annually and used for fertilizing 470 ha of farmland, completely replacing mineral fertilizer.

Toward a preliminary research agenda for the circular economy adoption in Africa

“…Lack of reliable quantitative data on waste management, informal sector, industry waste management data, illegally dumped and recycled waste 21 Nahman and Godfrey, 2010;Couth and Trois, 2012a;Feldt et al, 2014;Kinobe, 2015;Kinobe et al, 2015;Komakech et al, 2015;Mohee and Simelane, 2015;Scarlat et al, 2015;Gnassou, 2017;Godfrey et al, 2017;Regassa et al, 2017;Charis et al, 2019;Critoru et al, 2019;Kabera et al, 2019;Orhorhoro and Oghoghorie, 2019;Dibba, 2020;Adeleke et al, 2021;Ezeudu et al, 2020;Schoeman et al, 2021;Muheirwe et al, 2022;Obsa et al, 2022 Monitoring and evaluation of interventions/projects/initiatives to understand (project) interventions and their impact on improving (future) interventions and planning 6 Oduro- Appiah et al, 2013;Kinobe, 2015;Oyekale, 2017;Kakeu and Christelle, 2018;Mbiadjeu-Lawou, 2019;Moumbe et al, 2020 Lack of data for policy development/investments of CE and its related CE topics such as WEEE data, green and bio-economy 4 Klein and Reiher, 2016;Albagoury, 2020;Godfrey et al, 2021;Oguntuase and Adu, 2021 Monitoring and evaluation for (e) waste management and recycling policies 2 Sebola et al, 2018;Lebbie et al, 2021 to widen the scope of CE research in Africa, which is vital in advancing to a CE model. Building on the previous point, the literature review findings suggest a drastic need to conduct CE research on the themes such as private-sector-driven research, policy and governance, monitoring and evaluation, E-waste, and food and agriculture (Figure…”

“…Investigate how different types of waste and agricultural by-products can be upcycled, and study the (economic) benefit of the valorization. 14 Courard, 2020;Baffes, 2010;Semiyaga et al, 2015;Montcho et al, 2016;Nzila et al, 2016;Ousseini et al, 2017;Derouiche and Ben Amor, 2019;Pfukwa et al, 2019;Anagonou et al, 2020;Ayeleru et al, 2020;Browning et al, 2020;Dibba, 2020;Munubi and Lamtane, 2021;Sekabira et al, 2021b Impact of compost, biofertilizers and other techniques on the soil, productivity, and study its challenges, (cost) benefits, and opportunities compared to conventional farming and over landfill disposal 8 Kaboré et al, 2010;Couth and Trois, 2012b;Longanza et al, 2015;Semiyaga et al, 2015;Temple and de Bon, 2020;Terfa, 2021;Obsa et al, 2022;Duponnis, n.d.…”

Understanding Domestic Food Safety: An Investigation into Self-Reported Food Safety Practice and Associated Factors in Southern Ethiopian Households

“…One hundred thirty-two restaurants, 34 hotels, 49 cafes, and 3 juice houses, as well as 2 government hospitals, 1 private hospital, 4 health centers, and 71 private clinics, serve the town. 21 According to the census carried out in Shashamane 279, 814 people (141 150 men and 138 665 women) was the population size of the Town. 22 …”