IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i5p4624-d1088094.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microbial Risk Assessment of Mature Compost from Human Excreta, Cattle Manure, Organic Waste, and Biochar

Author

Listed:
  • Katharina A. Werner

    (Faculty of Life Sciences and Technology, Department of Microbiology, Berliner Hochschule für Technik, 13347 Berlin, Germany)

  • Daniela Castro-Herrera

    (Institute of Bio- and Geosciences—Agrosphere (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany)

  • Fantaw Yimer

    (Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hawassa University, Shashemene P.O. Box 128, Ethiopia)

  • Menfese Tadesse

    (Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hawassa University, Shashemene P.O. Box 128, Ethiopia)

  • Dong-Gill Kim

    (Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hawassa University, Shashemene P.O. Box 128, Ethiopia)

  • Katharina Prost

    (Institute of Bio- and Geosciences—Agrosphere (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany)

  • Nicolas Brüggemann

    (Institute of Bio- and Geosciences—Agrosphere (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany)

  • Elisabeth Grohmann

    (Faculty of Life Sciences and Technology, Department of Microbiology, Berliner Hochschule für Technik, 13347 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Lack of sanitation is the underlying cause of many diarrheal infections and associated deaths. Improving sanitation through the set-up of ecological sanitation dry toilets, followed by the thermophilic composting of human excreta, could offer a solution. In addition, treating the excreta via thermophilic composting allows us to recycle the nutrients to be used as fertilizer for agriculture. However, for this purpose, the compost should be free of pathogens. We conducted a thermophilic composting trial over 204 to 256 days with human excreta, along with vegetable scraps and teff straw, with and without biochar. A sawdust–cattle manure mixture with the same supplements served as a control treatment. To evaluate the hygienic quality of the mature compost, the bacterial indicators Escherichia coli and Salmonella were assessed using the cultivation-based most probable number method. In addition, Ascaris lumbricoides eggs were quantified through light microscopy. The amount of detected E. coli was below the thresholds of German and European regulations for organic fertilizer. Salmonella and Ascaris eggs were not detected. No significant differences between the treatments were observed. Thus, the composting process was efficient in decreasing the number of potential human pathogens. The mature compost fulfilled the legal regulations on organic fertilizer regarding potential human pathogens.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina A. Werner & Daniela Castro-Herrera & Fantaw Yimer & Menfese Tadesse & Dong-Gill Kim & Katharina Prost & Nicolas Brüggemann & Elisabeth Grohmann, 2023. "Microbial Risk Assessment of Mature Compost from Human Excreta, Cattle Manure, Organic Waste, and Biochar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-11, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4624-:d:1088094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4624/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4624/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zeleke Asaye & Dong-Gill Kim & Fantaw Yimer & Katharina Prost & Oukula Obsa & Menfese Tadesse & Mersha Gebrehiwot & Nicolas Brüggemann, 2022. "Effects of Combined Application of Compost and Mineral Fertilizer on Soil Carbon and Nutrient Content, Yield, and Agronomic Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Maize-Potato Cropping Systems in Southern Ethiopi," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Oukula Obsa & Menfese Tadesse & Dong-Gill Kim & Zeleke Asaye & Fantaw Yimer & Mersha Gebrehiwot & Nicolas Brüggemann & Katharina Prost, 2022. "Organic Waste Generation and Its Valorization Potential through Composting in Shashemene, Southern Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Moya, Berta & Parker, Alison & Sakrabani, Ruben, 2019. "Challenges to the use of fertilisers derived from human excreta: The case of vegetable exports from Kenya to Europe and influence of certification systems," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 72-78.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zeleke Asaye & Dong-Gill Kim & Fantaw Yimer & Katharina Prost & Oukula Obsa & Menfese Tadesse & Mersha Gebrehiwot & Nicolas Brüggemann, 2022. "Effects of Combined Application of Compost and Mineral Fertilizer on Soil Carbon and Nutrient Content, Yield, and Agronomic Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Maize-Potato Cropping Systems in Southern Ethiopi," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Simon Gwara & Edilegnaw Wale & Alfred Odindo & Chris Buckley, 2021. "Attitudes and Perceptions on the Agricultural Use of Human Excreta and Human Excreta Derived Materials: A Scoping Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-30, February.
    3. Berta Moya & Ruben Sakrabani & Alison Parker, 2019. "Realizing the Circular Economy for Sanitation: Assessing Enabling Conditions and Barriers to the Commercialization of Human Excreta Derived Fertilizer in Haiti and Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Adrian Mallory & Rochelle Holm & Alison Parker, 2020. "A Review of the Financial Value of Faecal Sludge Reuse in Low-Income Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-13, October.
    5. G Tassinari & S Boccaletti & C Soregaroli, 2023. "Recycling sludge in agriculture? Assessing sustainability of nutrient recovery in Italy," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(5), pages 1633-1658.
    6. Simon Gwara & Edilegnaw Wale & Alfred Odindo & Chris Buckley, 2020. "Why do We Know So Much and Yet So Little? A Scoping Review of Willingness to Pay for Human Excreta Derived Material in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-25, August.
    7. Victor Kavvadias & Zacharias Ioannou & Evangelia Vavoulidou & Christos Paschalidis, 2023. "Short Term Effects of Chemical Fertilizer, Compost and Zeolite on Yield of Lettuce, Nutrient Composition and Soil Properties," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-25, May.
    8. Joice Aline Aguiar Cruz Zanatta & Reginaldo Fidelis & Lyssa Setsuko Sakanaka, 2023. "Method for selecting certification standards for food safety," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(4), pages 1071-1085, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4624-:d:1088094. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.