Waste to Compost: Application of Indigenous Microbes for Conversion of Vegetable Waste into Compost

A large amount of vegetable waste (around 931 million tons in the world) is generated from the kitchen of food eateries per year. The improper disposal of this organic waste may lead to serious health and environmental issues. If this waste is dumped on open ground, it decomposes anaerobically which leads to emission of greenhouse gases mainly methane which is 28 times more potent for the environment than carbon dioxide. So, development of reliable, effective and environment friendly solution for this problem is a need of time. In the present study, potent bacterial isolates were obtained from different sources such as biogas slurry and soil samples, followed by characterization these isolates were tested for their efficiency to degrade vegetable waste. Finally, the selected screened isolates were used for production of bio compost. The efficiency of produced compost was tested against selected fenugreek plant in pot assay. Three cellulose degraders were isolated from selected biogas slurry and soil samples, on different media such as carboxy methyl cellulose agar, cellulose Congo red agar and Congo red agar containing Whatman filter paper. Isolates have shown effective degradation of vegetable waste within 10 days and produced organic compost prove to be effective for stimulating growth of fenugreek plant. The vegetable waste degraded by using micro-organisms in the present study can not only be used to improve crop yield but also help in reduction of greenhouse gases.