If moist food scraps are placed in a container and left to sit for a week or two, the end product is likely to be a smelly \" slop \" that attracts flies. Given the proper conditions, these same food scraps can be composted to produce a material that looks and smells like rich soil and can be used to enhance soil texture and productivity. So, what are these conditions that promote composting? The physical and chemical conditions that should be maintained in a compost heap seem logical if you think about what compost really is — a big pile of food for billions of minute organisms. These microorganisms have certain chemical requirements, primarily carbon for energy, nitrogen to build proteins, and oxygen for respiration. Interacting with these are physical requirements, such as aeration to maintain optimal oxygen levels while not depleting the moisture necessary for microbial growth. This chapter begins with an overview of the chemical, physical, and biological changes that occur during thermophilic composting, thereby providing an example of how several sciences can be integrated in the study of composting. This overview is followed by more detailed, separate sections on compost chemistry, physics, and biology. Much of the information in the chemistry and physics sections focuses on thermophilic composting. The biology section includes a discussion of the microbes that are present in all types of composting, and of the diversity of invertebrates that live in outdoor and some worm composting systems. The information presented here reflects the current body of scientific knowledge regarding composting. Much remains unknown, leaving a variety of intriguing questions for future research. Some of these questions are identified as Research Possibilities, sprinkled in italics throughout the text. We hope they will provide the inspiration for students to ask a much wider range of questions, and to design their own original research.

The Science of Composting

Between a third and half of the world’s population depend on groundwater for drinking water supply. However, groundwater of high quality is not ubiquitous and groundwater contamination is becoming a critical issue. Particularly, diffuse pollution by nitrate is a cause of groundwater quality degradation in many countries. Such pollution is especially due to agricultural and livestock practices. Moreover, rural and peri-urban settings are increasingly marked by investments in decentralised water services, mainly on-site sanitation systems and reuse of wastewater. Consequently, problems connecting bacteria and viruses are of increasing concern and can cause health problems of differing severity. From the point of view of governments and other agencies responsible for drinking water supply, methodologies to evaluate a degraded resource and how to regain quality are crucial. In rural and peri-urban settings, there is a need to promote changes in agricultural practices to protect aquifers. This may require farmers to adopt new methods and accept different policies. Their willingness may depend on the awareness of the impact of their practices on water quality. Farmer unions often blame poor on-site sanitation or inadequate wastewater treatment for pollution. Clearly, there is need to discriminate between contamination sources. The main aim of this special issue of Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) is to focus on diffuse contaminants and related impacts from an interdisciplinary point of view, that spans the technical and social sciences. This issue was made only of invited papers after selection by the guest editors. Year 2016 was a major milestone for the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and its 43rd Congress, celebrating the 60 years of IAH, was hosted in Montpellier, France, in September. Following the successful session on diffuse groundwater contamination at different scales, especially due to on-site sanitation and agriculture, the Special Issue in ESPR represents an original contribution of the IAH by collecting complementary approaches to this increasingly important subject. Particularly, it analysed field-based studies of diffuse pollution in groundwater and surface water, mainly nitrate and pathogens, and suggested different methodologies (modelling, interviews...) to tackle groundwater resources degradation and to increase awareness also for stakeholders and population. Five papers analysed nitrate pollution in groundwater and surface water. Ouedraogo et al. (2017) assessed the validity of an African-scale groundwater pollution model for nitrate and found it difficult to apply at this scale. Mas Pla and Menció (2018) studied effects of global changes such as climate and groundwater nitrate pollution from a water balance-based analysis of several aquifers at regional scale in Spain. Górski et al. (2017) investigated long-term (1958–2016) water nitrate data from Warta River in Poland, analysing the role of improvement in water and sewage management and a more Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

/pdf/groundwater-under-threat-from-diffuse-contaminants-improving-545kytfqfl.pdf

Groundwater under threat from diffuse contaminants: improving on-site sanitation, agriculture and water supply practices.

Conseils Pratiques pour une Utilisation de l’Urine en Production Agricole

On-site small-scale sanitation is common in rural areas and areas without infrastructure, but the treatment of the collected fecal matter can be inefficient and is seldom directed to resource recovery. The aim of this study was to compare low-technology solutions such as composting and lactic acid fermentation (LAF) followed by vermicomposting in terms of treatment efficiency, potential human and environmental risks, and stabilization of the material for reuse in agriculture. A specific and novel focus of the study was the fate of native pharmaceutical compounds in the fecal matter. Composting, with and without the addition of biochar, was monitored by temperature and CO2 production and compared with LAF. All treatments were run at three different ambient temperatures (7, 20, and 38°C) and followed by vermicomposting at room temperature. Materials resulting from composting and LAF were analyzed for fecal indicators, physicochemical characteristics, and residues of ten commonly used pharmaceuticals and compared to the initial substrate. Vermicomposting was used as secondary treatment and assessed by enumeration of Escherichia coli, worm density, and physicochemical characteristics. Composting at 38°C induced the highest microbial activity and resulted in better stability of the treated material, higher N content, lower numbers of fecal indicators, and less pharmaceutical compounds as compared to LAF. Even though analysis of pH after LAF suggested incomplete fermentation, E. coli cell numbers were significantly lower in all LAF treatments compared to composting at 7°C, and some of the anionic pharmaceutical compounds were detected in lower concentrations. The addition of approximately 5 vol % biochar to the composting did not yield significant differences in measured parameters. Vermicomposting further stabilized the material, and the treatments previously composted at 7°C and 20°C had the highest worm density. These results suggest that in small-scale decentralized sanitary facilities, the ambient temperatures can significantly influence the treatment and the options for safe reuse of the material.

/pdf/small-scale-on-site-treatment-of-fecal-matter-comparison-of-y1j802cy18.pdf

Small-scale on-site treatment of fecal matter: comparison of treatments for resource recovery and sanitization

Effectiveness of Chromolaena odorata as organic manure in promoting plant nutrient uptake and soil nutrient status on mustard rhizosphere

One of the most undesired wastes is the human excreta due to the socio-environmental pressure. Otherwise, the nutriments contained in human excreta could be used as fertilizers to enrich the soil. Familial waterless litter composting toilets (FWLCT) are an alternative for locations where a centralized sewerage network cannot be provided or where there is a lack of standard urban infrastructure including roads, electricity, and water supply. The scientific researches on the composting techniques, the methods of control of the composting processors, and the rate of produced leachate are very limited. In this research, the composting systems included a feces and urine collection device. In each passage, the litter (carbonaceous material) is added to the excreta. Regularly, the buckets were emptied into a composting device located outside the house to which an additional portion of carbonaceous materials can be added. Monitoring was carried out on five rural and one urban familial composting areas in France for 1.5 years. The physiochemical and microbiological properties of the compost and leachate have been monitored and measured in compliance with the protocols. The results show that one of the main problems of this system of human excreta treatment is that the composting process does not achieve a significant rise in temperature and does not allow reaching the optimum temperatures (> 50 °C). Otherwise, from an agronomic point of view, the obtained compost is not rich enough in nutriments to be a good compost as soil fertilizer. But it can be used as a soil conditioner. The average leachate flux from the composters is 1.79 L/day. Because of the very short stay time in the piles, the leachate is contaminated by harmful bacteria and should be treated by another sanitation system.

/pdf/evaluation-of-the-quality-and-quantity-of-compost-and-3rbd8qdkgp.pdf

Evaluation of the quality and quantity of compost and leachate from household waterless toilets in France

La valorisation agricole de fertilisants a base d’urine ou urinofertilisants (UF) est une piste prometteuse. Son potentiel est aborde ici en partant du monde agricole, a travers une enquete qualitative aupres de vingt-quatre agriculteurs d’Ile-de-France et d’acteurs institutionnels. Plusieurs UF et scenarios de filieres envisageables leur ont ete presentes. L’analyse fait emerger une pluralite de positionnements des agriculteurs. Toutefois, tous mettent l’accent sur l’importance de la fiabilite de l’organisation de la production - commercialisation et considerent l’existence de filieres pilotes comme un requis prealable a leur adhesion a cette pratique. S’atteler a la mise en place de demonstrateurs apparait donc aujourd’hui necessaire.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03132504/document

Vers une valorisation des urines humaines: Le regard des agriculteurs franciliens

................................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Partie I : État des lieux des pratiques d’assainissement des matières de toilettes sèches mobiles ..... 11 1. Contexte de l’état des lieux ............................................................................................................ 11 1.1. Généralités................................................................................................................................ 11 1.1.1. Propos introductifs .............................................................................................................. 11 1.1.2. Les toilettes sèches mobiles : genèse et définition ............................................................. 11 1.1.3. Le métier de « prestataire » de TSM .................................................................................. 12 1.2. Les TSM : quel contexte réglementaire ? ................................................................................. 12 1.2.1 La règlementation existante concernant les systèmes de toilettes sèches ........................ 12 1.2.2 Quelles autres réglementations/encadrements pertinents ? .............................................. 15 1.2.3 Droit du travail associé aux TSM ........................................................................................ 16 1.3. Méthodologie de l’état des lieux des pratiques......................................................................... 16 2. État des lieux des pratiques des prestataires ................................................................................ 19 2.1. Panel et Profil des prestataires ................................................................................................. 19 2.2. Le parc de TSM ........................................................................................................................ 21 2.3. Les prestations : prix et contenu ............................................................................................... 23 2.4. Type d’évènements et fréquentation ........................................................................................ 25 2.5. Présence et activité sur le site de l’évènement ........................................................................ 26 2.6. Type de résidus et réceptacles utilisés ..................................................................................... 28 2.7. Vidanges et mesures d’hygiènes sur site ................................................................................. 31 2.8. Transport des résidus issus des TSM et des urinoirs .............................................................. 34 2.9. Mode de gestion des résidus issus des TSM et des urinoirs ................................................... 35 3. État des lieux des pratiques chez les commanditaires .................................................................. 39 3.1. Le profil des commanditaires et des évènements organisés ................................................... 39 3.2. La perception des TSM par les commanditaires ...................................................................... 42 3.3. Les prestations de TSM ............................................................................................................ 43 3.4. La collecte et le stockage des matières des TSM .................................................................... 44 3.5. Les mesures d’hygiènes ........................................................................................................... 46 3.6. Le transport et la valorisation des matières .............................................................................. 46 3.7. Synthèse ................................................................................................................................... 48 4. Choix des filières à suivre .............................................................................................................. 48 4.1. Critères et choix des filières...................................................................................................... 48 4.1.1. Critères de sélection. .............................................................................................................. 48 4.1.2. Filières retenues ..................................................................................................................... 49 4.2. Définition des trois filières. ........................................................................................................ 49

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01803134/document

Caractérisation des pratiques et des impacts de la gestion des matières de Toilettes Sèches Mobiles

« Garantir l'accès à l'eau et à un assainissement adéquat à tous » et « éliminer la faim, assurer la sécurité alimentaire, améliorer la nutrition et promouvoir l’agriculture durable » sont deux des dix-sept objectifs du développement durable des Nations Unies à l’horizon 2030. Une gestion circulaire des nutriments, par une réutilisation agricole de ceux qui sont contenus dans les excrétions humaines, contribuerait à atteindre ces deux objectifs simultanément. En milieu urbain, ce potentiel est considérable mais, depuis plus d'un siècle, la transition vers des sociétés industrielles basées sur des ressources fossiles s'est accompagnée d'une linéarisation généralisée dans la gestion des nutriments (Esculier 2018). L’urine humaine suscite toutefois un intérêt grandissant : elle contient la majorité des nutriments excrétés par le corps humain et son emploi en agriculture en tant qu’« urinofertilisants » (UF) fait l’objet de recommandations de bonnes pratiques de valorisation de la part de l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé en 2012. L'adhésion et l’implication du secteur agricole s'avèrent cruciales pour restaurer la boucle des nutriments (Esrey et al. 2001).

L'emploi de fertilisants à base d'urine humaine, une pratique d'économie circulaire acceptable?

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Evaluation of the quality and quantity of compost and leachate from household waterless toilets in France

Vers une valorisation des urines humaines: Le regard des agriculteurs franciliens

Caractérisation des pratiques et des impacts de la gestion des matières de Toilettes Sèches Mobiles

L'emploi de fertilisants à base d'urine humaine, une pratique d'économie circulaire acceptable?