ABSTRACT
Composting is one of the suitable method for disposal of organic waste and convert it in to organic fertilizer. For effective composting, role of temperature within the composting heap is important. Variation of temperature in the composting heap is the indicator of type of microbial biomass present during the composting. Present study was conducted to find out the minimum volume of waste for effective composting. The present study was conducted in two phases. The first phase of study was conducted to monitor the temperature variation in different volume of composting heap and second phase of study was conducted to study the leachate production in food and vegetable waste. The results of the present study revealed that minimum 80 and 100 kg of food and vegetable waste required maintaining the thermophilic and mesophilic stage. To attain the thermophilic stage the minimum volume should be around 0.5 m3 and minimum height 0.6m. Leachate was produced at initial stage of degradation and it was more in vegetable waste compared to food waste.
