Recovery of nutrient from Municipal Solid Waste by composting and vermicomposting using earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae

• Earthworms (Eudrilus eugeniae) convert most organic waste into nutritive compost.
• A significant increase in P, K, Ca, Mg and Na was obtained during composting.
• Vermicomposting expressed a higher increase in P, K, Mg and Na than composting.
• Nutrients level was dependent on faecal activity of earthworm gut enzymes.
• Vermicompost served as a good source of nutrients to those obtained from composting.

The study was to assess and compare the redistribution of nutrients content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and Na) during the composting and vermicomposting processes of organic components of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) for a period of 10 weeks. Six experiments were set up in which three experiments were for the in-vessel composting (S1, S2 and S3) which acted as controls and the other three were for the vermibin vermicomposting (S4, S5 and S6) using Eudrilus eugeniae as earthworm specie. The organic fraction of MSW was evaluated for nutrient contents and the composts from the in-vessels systems expressed a significant increase in total N (except for S1), P, K, Ca, Mg and Na. Similarly from the vermibins, all vermicomposting processes demonstrated an increase in these nutrients. Vermicomposting processes demonstrated a higher increase in P (67.2–87.5%), K (24.9–45.8%), Mg (12.2–63.8%) and Na (30.2–40.5%) than composting processes which might be possibly owing to the bacterial and faecal activity of earthworm gut enzymes resulting in mobilization and mineralization of these nutrients. Data suggested that the feasibility of inoculated earthworms to enhance the nutrient profile in MSW compared to the simple composting process might contribute to differentiate between vermicomposts and composts in their effects on plant growth.