Effect of Plant-Based Wastes as a Catalyst for Food Waste Composting on Physio-chemical and Biological Properties

Abstract. Food waste is not a recent issue; it has long been a serious environmental issue for the ecosystem and human health. This problem becomes more critical as the amount is rising in tandem with the economy and lifestyle. Composting is one of the most sustainable and economical alternative solutions for disposing of food waste directly at source through the development of organic catalysts. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the effect of the catalyst developed by local plant-based wastes (lettuce, cucumber, carrot, spinach, iceberg lettuce, pineapple peel, and banana peel) on temperature, moisture content, potential of hydrogen (pH) and microbial population. The result showed that the pH profile for all catalyst resources attained a maturity pH of 3.5, ranging from 1 to 7 days, with the shortest time duration by pineapple (1 day) followed by carrot and cucumber (2 days), green spinach, iceberg lettuce and lettuce (3 days), and banana (7 days). However, the catalyst obtained from cucumber waste has the largest microbial population (lactic acid and yeast). Lettuce, spinach, and pineapple do not produce yeasts or lactic acid bacteria. Furthermore, during the composting process, only the cucumber waste catalyst shows a strong temperature increase into the thermophilic phase on day 1 (46.8°C). In contrast, all others show a temperature rise of less than 40°C. In conclusion, cucumber waste has a huge potential to accelerate food waste composting and enable easy, sustainable, and economical food waste management.