Tobacco Composting: An Alternative to Burning or Landfill Composting is the purposeful biodegradation of organic matter, such as yard, food and agro-industrial waste. The decomposition is performed by micro-organisms, mostly bacteria, but also yeasts and fungi. A biodegradable material is capable of being completely broken down under the action of microorganisms into carbon dioxide, water and biomass. A compostable material biodegrades substantially under specific composting conditions. It is metabolized by the microorganisms, being incorporated into the organisms or converted into humus.
Benefits of Using Compost Composting upcycles organic kitchen , yard and agro-industrial waste and manures into an extremely useful humus-like, soil end product, permitting the return of vital organic matter, nutrients, and particularly bacteria, that are vital to plant nutrition to the soil. Long used in subsistence farming and home gardening for creating garden-ready soil, composting is becoming increasingly important and better understood as a tool for reducing municipal and industrial solid waste, and reducing the amount of green waste going into landfills.
The decomposition of organic material sent to landfills is a principal cause of methane, an important greenhouse gas, making reduction of organic waste being landfilled a key element in the fight against climate change. Improves soil tilt and structure, water -holding capacity of soil, improves aeration, acts as buffer to change in soil pH, kills pathogenic organism, weeds & other unwanted seeds. Tobacco Composting Tobacco solid waste is classified as agro-industrial waste. Agro-industrial waste presents an alternative to inorganic fertilizer.
It is possible to use tobacco waste as a soil amendment due to its high organic matter and low toxic element content. Researchers in Turkey have studied the effect of tobacco waste on soil physical, chemical and microbiological properties and on plant growth and yield by applying tobacco waste directly to the soil with & without composting. They showed that tobacco waste added without composting depressed microbial biomass and speculated that the nicotine present in the waste could have caused this effect.
Nicotine is an insecticide and has been reported to have toxic effect on plants and animals. Direct use of tobacco waste could create an unfavorable soil environment; however, composting tobacco waste could accelerate the breakdown of nicotine and result in the production of a less toxic and more useful organic amendment. Therefore, tobacco composting can be taken as the best alternative to burning or landfill disposal methods economically as well as environmentally if implemented by NTE.
