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Waste management is a major challenge in the big cities in developing countries where municipalities have to face growing quantities of wastes with limited financial resources.

Besides, the anaerobic decomposition (in the absence of oxygen) of the organic matter contained in household wastes strongly contributes to global warming through the emission of big quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

In effect, sorting and composting allow to improve the local management of household waste while reducing their impact on the environment. Moreover, the production of compost contributes to the development of local agriculture, and is accompanied by job creation for the most disadvantaged populations. In effect, compost allows:

• The production of a valuable amendment, which will contribute to the rehabilitation of eroded soil. It is considered as an alternative to the slash-and-burn agriculture;
• The reduction of chemical fertilizers whose production generates greenhouse gases;
• The reduction of the inconveniences caused by a poorly controlled landfill (infections, human and animal diseases, fires, particulate matter emissions, landslides, pollution).

Pilot project of “conversion of organic wastes by composting”

The agri-food sector discharges huge quantities of liquid or solid waste; this provokes an imbalance and adverse reactions whose course is sometimes irreversible on the terrestrial, marine or atmospheric ecosystems if they are discharged without the proper precautions in these environments.

For instance, we could cite the animal manure, the vegetable water, olive-pomace, pulp, dairy industries’ sludge, whey.
The current management approach is to collect and store these wastes in the public landfills.

Currently, Tunisian coasts annually receive shredded marine plants that aesthetically affect out touristic beaches, and emit obnoxious odors after a few-week stay at the spot. Currently, the only remedy is to collect these plants and send them to public landfills.

Likewise, green wastes (tree and shrub branches, private or public gardens’ wastes) do exist in big quantities, too, and are hidden in the landfills. Recycling all this waste is a solution for a better management thereof. It allows energy recovery from the waste as value-added sub-products that will be injected into the economy. Composting is an energy recovery and recycling procedure of organic waste.

The goal of the present project is to help the actors in the composting field and the establishment of composting units.

Components of the project

Conduction of tests at the pilot station, at CITET’s eco-technological park, for the production of compost from:
• Straws and feces;
• Vegetable water and Posidonia;
• Green waste;
• Urban wastewater treatment plants’ sludge;
• Agri-food industry waste;
As well as:
• The research of new technologies;
• Energy recovery from compost-producing units;
• The study of the impact compost use on the soil’s fauna and flora.
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