IPA-Open access -Distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 Management of Municipal Solid Waste by Vermicompost-A case study of Eluru

ABSTRACT Solid waste is an unwanted byproduct of modern civilization. Land fills are the most common means of solid waste disposal. But, the increasing amount of solid waste is rapidly filling existing land fills, and new sites are difficult to establish. Alternatives to land fills include the use of source reduction, recycling, composting and incineration, as well as use of land fills. Incineration is most economical if it includes energy recovery from the waste. Energy can be recovered directly from waste by incineration or the waste can be processed to produce storable refuse derived fuel (RDF). Information on the composition of solid wastes is important in evaluating alternative equipment needs, systems, management programs and plans. Household surveys are done in six divisions of Eluru Municipal Corporation, A.P, India and per-capita waste for the corporation is estimated. Pulverization of municipal solid waste is done and the pulverized solid waste is dressed to form a bed and the bed is fed by vermi's which converts the bed into vermi compost. The obtained vermi compost is sent to recognized lab for estimating the major nutrients i.e., Potassium (K), Phosphorous (P), Nitrogen (N) and Micro-nutrient values. It is estimated that 59 -65 tons of wet waste is generated in Eluru per day and if this wet waste is converted to quality compost 12.30 tons of vermi compost can be generated. If Municipal Corporation of Eluru(MCE) manages this wet waste an income of over rupees 0.89 crores per anum can be earned by MCE which is a considerable amount for providing of better services to public