STUDY OF BIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF PAPER WASTE DEGRADED THROUGH VERMICOMPOSTING IN AN INSTITUTIONAL SETUP

Amita Paul C and *Pawlin Vasanthi Joseph

ABSTRACT

Paper is more than an industrial product. It is the cultural barometer of the nation and a significant discovery that turned around the history of the world.Consequently, production of large quantities of paper directly leads to the enormous production of this organic waste posing major environmental and disposal problems.Vermicomposting is identified as an innovative and alternative technology to convert it into a positive environmental impact by reducing the amount of organic waste that finds its way into landfills, incinerators, and sometimes the ocean.In the present study, the experiments were conducted in triplicates for each treatment taken, (T1) – newspaper waste and cow dung, (T2) – written paper and cow dung. The epigeic earthworm species, Eisenia foetida is used in the study. The earthworms were bred in both the treatments and their controls were devoid of worms.This setup was monitored over a period of 60 days. The study reveals that newspaper was degraded more efficiently than written paper via vermicomposting. The newspaper vermicompost had more of earthworm numbers, earthworm biomass and cocoon production while growth rate of worms was found to be higher in written paper vermicompost. pH near neutral is recommended for efficient degradation and for biological augmentation of earthworms. Thus, vermicomposting using Eisenia foetida is an effective method for the management and degradation of cellulosic paper waste in an educational institution.

Keywords: Vermicompost, Eisenia foetida, Paper waste, Physico-chemical analysis, Biological analysis, Coliform estimation, Regression analysis.