Effects of landfill food waste diversion: a focus on microbial populations and methane generation.
Biodegradation
; 34(5): 477-488, 2023 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37338708
ABSTRACT
The early stages of municipal solid waste degradation in landfills are complex harmonies of physical, biological, and chemical interactions that all work in concert to degrade trash into smaller and more stable materials. While many approaches have been taken to understand parts of this process, this new work attempted to simulate the early stages of landfills in controlled laboratory environments while observing the impacts of food waste content at different concentrations. This was completed by operating landfill lysimeters in a laboratory for approximately 1000 days, simulating landfill interior conditions while measuring the gas and liquid byproducts to study the impact of food waste presence in these environments. Metagenomic analysis after the experiment identified over 18,000 individual species and allowed comparison with past studies while also surveying microorganisms present in landfills. Similar populations found in past studies suggested the current experiments successfully replicated landfill conditions. While food waste diversion had a discernable impact on gas production, it did not show a clear and consistent impact on the microbiomes identified in this study.
Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Refuse Disposal
Language:
En
Year:
2023
Type:
Article