| dc.description.abstract | The increasing population and urbanization in Uganda and other areas of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have resulted in a high volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) being generated. However, most of the waste generated is organic and its recovery could go a long way in improving the livelihoods of the SSA citizens. Composting is one of the environmentally friendly and sustainable MSW management technologies with the potential for resource recovery from organic waste in the form of organic fertilizers. At Katikkolo MSW composting plant in Mukono Municipality, composting of MSW takes place in five windrows. However, the plant’s performance is not known. It was therefore important that the operations, material flow, and compost quality be investigated to assess the performance of the plant and the nutrient recovery potential. Data were collected from the plant regarding the quantity of wastes received (material flow), composting processes (feedstock and intermediate material), and compost quality. Results from this study revealed a significant difference (p<0.05) in the ash content, organic matter, total phosphorus, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and copper, with no significant difference (p>0.05) in the potassium content, lead, arsenic, chromium, zinc and nickel concentration. The results also indicated a low nutrient recovery in the compost produced at the plant since the quality of compost produced was low as compared to the UNBS standards of organic fertilizers with N, C, C/N ratio, and Cr exceeding the limits by 0.047%, 5.487%, 1.698 mg/kg, and 349.81 mg/kg respectively. However, the concentration of Pb, Hg, As, Cd, and Cu were within the acceptable range for use. The material flow analysis indicated that 10% of the waste input was converted into compost which was way below the standard for municipal solid waste composting. This implied that the plant was not performing at full capacity. Further research is required to examine the maturity and stability of municipal solid waste compost to improve its quality and the need for alternative methods for composting such as anaerobic digestion and vermicomposting to use at the plant in conjunction with the windrow composting to promote nutrient recovery and the plant sustainability. | en_US |
