Home Composting: A Review of Scientific Advances
Raquel Barrena, Antoni Sánchez
Abstract
Composting has been demonstrated to be a sustainable technology for treating organic wastes. The process is based on the microbial decomposition of organic matter under aerobic conditions to obtain compost: An organic amendment that can be safely used in agriculture and other applications. Among the composted wastes, the organic fraction of municipal waste is commonly used. In this sense, the interest in composting at home or community scale is exponentially growing in recent years, as it permits the self-management of waste and obtaining a product that can be used by the own producer. However, some questions about the quality of the obtained compost or the environmental impact of home composting are in an early stage of this development. In this review, the main points related to home composting are analyzed in detail according to the current scientific knowledge. Among them: (i) The performance of the process, especially in the temperature reached and the fact that if home compost is sanitized, (ii) the quality of home composting, especially in terms of maturity and stability, (iii) the main environmental impacts of home composting, that is, gaseous emissions and (iv) the main trends related to community composting, a step forward from home composting, to make this alternative attractive for municipal organic waste management. The main advantages and possible drawbacks of home composting are also highlighted.