Composition Analysis of Major Organic Fractions of Municipal Solid Waste Generated from Chennai

Organic solid waste generated from a wholesale vegetable, fruit and flower market as well as slaughterhouse waste from Chennai, India, has been selected for an in-depth investigation. Variations in the waste generation in the market due to the seasonal changes were observed and studied. The waste generation from the wholesale vegetable, fruit and flower market on monthly basis was monitored and observed the highest waste generation rates during summer and winter, and found to be December month where 6683 tonnes of waste was generated and May month where around 5754 tonnes of waste was generated. Sampling was carried out both during December to represent winter and May to represent summer season and composition in terms of each quantity of vegetable/fruit/flower wastes present in the sample collected were evaluated in the current study. Also, the composition of slaughtered cattle was monitored and studied which shows that rumen content is the major waste generated during cattle slaughtering. Characterization of the wastes was carried out in terms of total solids, moisture content, volatile solids, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates content and fibre content. Based on the composition of the wastes, suitable treatment options have been suggested so as to utilize the waste in various forms of bio-energy.