Compost making from refuse sourced from Kano Metropolitan, Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Municipal-solid waste (MSW) in towns and cities of Nigeria are either allowed to rot or burnt which causes the release of greenhouse gases in the process. The heap of uncollected refuse in Kano municipal causes serious health hazards and menacing public disorder. This research investigated the Kano municipal refuse for compost making, instead of using waste disposal technique such as landfilling. Refuse samples from Dorayi/Zage and Rimin Kira refuse dumping sites Kano Municipal, Kano State Nigeria were collected. The refuse samples were sorted and all the non-biodegradables materials were removed. A compost was made from Sample N in 20 days while 9 days was required to produce a compost from sample P. Kjeldahl Nitrogen determination method and simple procedure for total carbon determination method were used to determine the percentages of nitrogen and carbon in the samples. The results have shown that, the percentages of nitrogen in the samples were found to be 1.64% for sample N and 1.71% for sample P. The percentages of carbon in the samples are 6.8% for sample N and 6.3% for sample P. The C/N ratio for sample N was 4.15:1 and that of sample P was 3.69:1.Kano municipal refuse contains a lot of organic wastes which are very difficult to incinerate. Therefore, Composting method is the best option for the disposal of the refuse rather than directly dumped in the streets.