Addition of fish pond sediment and rock phosphate enhances the composting of green waste

The objective of this work was to study the two-stage composting of green waste (GW) as affected by addition of fish pond sediment (FPS; at 0, 25, and 35%) and/or rock phosphate (RP; at 0, 10, and 15%). The combined addition of FPS and RP greatly accelerated GW degradation and improved compost quality in terms of composting temperature, windrow volume, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), NH3 emission, microbial biomass, enzyme activities, nutrient content, and seed germination. The two-stage composting was optimal with the combined addition of 25% FPS and 15% RP. In addition to producing the highest quality compost product, the optimal combination resulted a mature compost in only 22 days rather than in the 90-270 days required with traditional composting.