separacióen de residuos domiciliarios para la preparación de compost y su análisis en la producción de pepinos

The management of domestic wastes is not merely an issue of home technology, but of strategies, education and social awareness; it requires the participation of authorities, businessmen and civil society. The objective of this study was under these premises, with emphasis on the participation of society to manage kitchen wastes and garden residues through composting in a residential area of Zapopan, Jalisco, in August, 2007. A program of collection, quantification, classification and evaluation of the neighbors' response to the call to separate the kitchen waste was implemented. For composting the residues were deposited in two wooden bins in alternating layers with garden waste up to place 3000 kg of kitchen waste and 1595 kg of garden waste per bin. The composting period was 105 d, in which an average of 4 kg garbage d ^-1 house ^-1 was generated. Each household generated an average of 1.92 kg ^-1 of kitchen waste. According to the 21 fractions of waste classification, it was found that 47.4 % were kitchen waste, 10.7 % paper, 7.4 % garden waste and 0.4 % aluminum cans and paper. In addition, 61 % of household waste can be handled by composting, 24.3 % by recycling, 12.4 % by composting when consumption patterns of the population change by using new technologies to manufacture compostable materials and only 2.3 % can be handled in sanitary landfills. At the end of composting the kitchen and garden wastes became a product with texture and smell similar to a gardening land; the loss of volume and dry matter was 44 and 44.7 %. The compost was characterized by: pH 8.26, conductivity 5.55 dS m ^-1, total N 1.5 %, Na 370.54 mg kg ^-1, Cu 35.38 mg kg ^-1, Be 0.56 mg kg ^-1, Al 7927 mg kg ^-1, Ba 44 mg kg ^-1, Cd 0.49 mg kg ^-1, Ca 5.44 %, Cr 6.33 mg kg ^-1, Pb 8.67 mg kg ^-1, Co 1.42 mg kg ^-1, Fe 4379.74 mg kg ^-1, Mg 0.32 %, Mn 767.07 mg kg ^-1, Mo 13.75 mg kg ^-1, Ni 3.16 mg kg ^-1, P 0.24 %, K 1.2 %, Ag<0.29 mg kg ^-1, Zn 165.28 mg kg ^-1, Sb 18.87 mg kg ^-1, Ti 118.99 mg kg ^-1 and V 10.32 mg kg ^-1. In a greenhouse study with cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) grown for 103 d in pots with different compost and sand ratios, there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between the number and cumulative weight of cucumbers harvested per pot in five of six treatments, nor between the weight and average length of the cucumbers. According to the analysis 2369 kg of kitchen waste and 1185 kg of garden residues should be subjected to composting per day. For 120 d of composting it is required a minimum area of 2257 m ², where 10 windows (31 m long, 3 m wide and 2 m high) would be installed to have a compost production of 2246 kg d ^-1 to reach the stationary phase.