Utilising standard samples instead of randomly collected food waste in composting: Implementation strategy and feasibility evaluation

Wang J 1 , Li C 1 , Awasthi MK 2 , Nyambura SM 1 , Zhu Z 1 , Li H 3 Show all authors , Xu J 1 , Feng X 1 , Zhu X 1 , Syed A 4 , Wong LS 5 , Luo W 6

Affiliations 

  • 1 College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Agricultural Equipment in Jiangsu Province/Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
  • 2 College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Taicheng Road 3#, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
  • 3 College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Agricultural Equipment in Jiangsu Province/Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: lihua@njau.edu.cn
  • 4 Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Putra Nilai, 71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • 6 CITIC Envirotech Guangzhou Co Ltd, Guangzhou 510000, China
J Environ Manage, 2024 Feb 27;353:120182.
PMID: 38278112 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120182

Abstract

Randomly collected food waste results in inaccurate experimental data with poor reproducibility for composting. This study investigated standard food waste samples as replacements for randomly collected food waste. A response surface methodology was utilised to analyse data from a 28-day compost process optimisation experiment using collected food waste, and the optimal combination of composting parameters was derived. Experiments using different standard food waste samples (high oil and salt, high oil and sugar, balanced diet, and vegetarian) were conducted for 28 days under optimal conditions. The ranking of differences between the standard samples and collected food waste was vegetarian > balanced diet > high oil and sugar > high oil and salt. Statistical analysis indicated t-tests for increased oil and salt samples and collected food waste were not significant, and Cohen's d effect values were minimal. High oil and salt samples can be used as replacements for collected food waste in composting experiments.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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