Solid Waste management expectations of the future

Posted January 25, 2021

Solid waste management is a coined term that is used to refer to the process of collecting and treating solid wastes. It also offers intelligent solutions for recycling items that do not belong to garbage or trash. As long as people have been living in settlements and residential areas, garbage or solid waste has been a global issue. The role of enzymes and microbial cultures has been immense to ensure the environment is not polluted. The reasons why solid waste management enzymes are important are:

Reduces any bad odour
Any slurry volume reduces as the solids are broken down and digested.
More waste gets processed in quicker time spans and effectively increases the capacity of the system.
Bacterial oxidation becomes faster and more comprehensive with the liquid phase
The whole treatment becomes a balanced one and easier to accommodate.
Planning takes on uniformly and routine waste management gets into the system.
High-quality fertilizer manure gets produces in lesser time.

The introduction of microbial enzymes as an alternative to harsh chemicals has led to intensive exploration and innovation of natural microbial biodiversity to discover microbial enzymes with possible application avenues in waste recycling under appropriate conditions. Cellulase converts cellulosic material into simple sugars and such cellulolytic enzymes help in natural biodegradation. Plant lignocellulosic materials are effectively degraded by cellulolytic fungi, bacteria, Actinomycetes, and protozoa. Many fungi that are capable of degrading cellulose synthesize large quantities of extracellular cellulases which are more efficient in depolymerizing the cellulose substrate.

The most common and cheap waste disposal technique involves the dumping of waste in a specified disposal ground. This leads to pollution of soil by toxic chemicals present in the waste, leading to the emergence of diseases in plants, human beings, and cattle. The action of micro-organisms with advanced enzyme action just means breaking down complex polymers into simpler degradable molecules. The microorganisms help by secreting various enzymes. Therefore, the key desired goal was to develop a microbial consortium that acts as a biological tool for the removal of organic solid wastes from the environment and application of the compost generated from the degradation to increase the fertility of the soil. The increased infertility of the soil would lead to enhanced crop yield and production too.

Enzymes & Microbial Cultures for Solid Waste Management

Why solid management is strategized?

Waste Prevention and Waste minimization– All product life cycle studies are based on how to increase the maximum utilization of products and also to provide an eco-friendly approach.

Composting– Again, this being a natural process that is a succession of microbial disintegration is very efficient and enhances the production of enzymes. Moisture content and aeration and temperature stimulate the growth and metabolic activity of the microbial mass. The ambient temperature is hence also very vital in solid waste management where microbes are active. Particle size is again important and sometimes waste is shredded so that the microbes get more surface area for degradation.

Incineration-Solid waste degradation not only provides solid end-to-end products like compost but also the by-products that can be used as a potential energy source. This is of paramount need and importance to our future generations due to the depletion of resources which is posing a threat worldwide. Incineration consists of waste combustion at very high temperatures to produce electrical energy. The byproduct of incineration is ash, which requires proper characterization before disposal, or in some cases, beneficial re-use. It is widely used in developed countries due to landfill space limitations.