ABSTRACT

The solid waste (SW) generation pattern is growing exponentially worldwide. Contrarily, the cost of scientific processing and disposal is limited. Therefore, addressing this rampant mass with a confident budget is of a greater threat. Ultimately, the aforementioned causes open dumping and burning of the SW. But the urban local bodies (ULB) often forget the serious environmental intimidation attributed to it. Thus, the present study tried to explore the feasibility of bio-mining towards the reclamation of the old dump sites. The Omagulam dump site located at the outskirts of the Chidambaram town was utilized as the source of unsegregated solid waste. The collected waste segregated and composition analysis was carried out to understand the property of the waste. Majority of the waste ranging approx. 65- 70% (i.e. based on the four trail samples procured) found to be organic in nature and remaining includes non-recyclable plastics, inert glass pieces, rubbers, wooden twigs etc. The composition was also influenced by the activities of the informal rack pickers and seasonal variances. Based on the characteristics of the SW it was concluded that bio-mining is an appropriate approach to address the present issue. A lab-scale study was conducted within Annamalai University premises by randomly sampling of the heterogeneous mass from the prior mentioned source. The biodegradable fraction was manually segregated and a hip was formed layer by layer of 1 m3 volume. Effective microorganism (EM) culture was sprayed and the degradation rate was accelerated. Whereas, the recyclables were separated and sold to the authorized recyclers to generate revenue. The compost yield was recorded as 55.6% and contributed a decent fraction towards the economic recovery. The non-process-able inert fraction is suggested to be disposed of using the scientific landfill. Ultimately the research work concludes that the bio-mining is utmost preferable to reclaim the old dump sites and preserve the environment. Keywords: bio-mining, compost, inert, landfill, recovery

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2019/September/MS_IJBPAS_2019_4808.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2019/8.9.4808