250 T.C. DAVIES, M.M. IKIARA, A.M. KARANJA, C. FUREDY
Problems associated with composting
Composting has the potential to be income generating but there are a number of
constraints facing community groups. The most important of these is probably the
procurement of land on which to carry out the activities.
Our survey yielded the following listing of other constraints faced by composting
groups during the wet season:
- Lower quality of compost due to erosion and loss of nutrients;
- The compost takes long to dry;
- It is more difficult to collect the waste and turn them in the pile due to wetness;
- Wetness slows down the decomposition process; and
- Difficulty in sieving due to clogging of the compost.
Constraints suffered during the dry season include:
- More water use;
- Longer composting period required;
- Dust produced during sieving; and
- Shortage of markets.
As such, supply cannot meet demand in the rainy season, whereas in the dry season
supply may be greater than demand, and there is hardly enough storage space for the
compost.
One of the reasons militating against sustainable development in composting opera-
tions is the lack of a ready market for the products, which group members attribute to
poor marketing strategies. But there is also the wide availability of synthetic fertilizers
in the market. In addition, transportation was considered to be a perennial and serious
problem in marketing compost, as the long delivery distances involved engender huge
expenditure of cash for members, none of whom have their own vehicles. Many of the
potential markets for compost are in sites which are largely inaccessible.
Given these transportation difficulties, group members have resorted to the use of
handcarts, wheelbarrows and sacks, other means of cheap public transport or request
customers to use their own transportation means.
12.7. HEALTH EFFECTS
Health concerns are always mentioned in discussions of waste reuse (e.g. Furedy,
1996; Contreau-Levine et al., 1998; Ratha and Sahu, 1993; etc.) The general effect of
urbanisation has been the generation of urban pollution. This has inevitably affected
the resources (water, soil and air) and the agricultural environment, reducing the
production of traditional cash crops such as maize. This situation has been
compounded by the abandonment of agricultural activity in favour of steady work