Exploitation of composting management for either reclamation of organic wastes or solid-phase treatment of contaminated environmental matrices

This paper is an overview of the potential use of composting technology in programmes aimed at organic waste recycling (product-oriented perspective) or decomposition of hazardous materials (process-oriented perspective). This latter approach includes composting as a tool for bioremediation of environmental matrices, such as contaminated soils and sediments. In all above-mentioned cases, biological reactions that characterize composting must be managed carefully to allow putrescible residues to become a humified agricultural fertilizer with no phytotoxic effects, or the degradation of organic pollutants (e.g., aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons or halogenated solvents) to proceed to the highest extent with formation of innocuous end products. Thus, the fundamental aspects of controlling the microbial environment in composting matrices are singled out as a means for better evaluating the range of adverse conditions possibly responsible for hindering the correct evolution of the process within different applications. Key words: biopiles, bioremediation, composting, ex situ soil biotreatments, in-vessel systems, open systems, organo-nitro explosives, organic waste reclamation, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, soil composting windrows.