© 2007 IWA Publishing. Organic Waste Recycling: Technology and Management. Authored by
Chongrak Polprasert. ISBN: 9781843391210. Published by IWA Publishing, London, UK.
2
Characteristics of organic wastes
Almost all kinds of organic wastes can be recycled into valuable products
according to the technologies outlined in Chapter 1. In designing facilities for the
handling, treatment, and disposal/reuse of these wastes, knowledge of their nature
and characteristics is essential for proper sizing and selecting of a suitable
technology. This chapter will describe characteristics of organic wastes generated
from human, animal and some agro-industrial activities. Pollution caused by these
organic wastes, and possible diseases associated with the handling and recycling of
both human and animal wastes are described. A section on cleaner production is
presented to emphasize the current trend of waste management. The analysis of
physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the organic wastes can be done
following the procedures outlined in "Standard Methods for the Examination of
Water and Wastewater (APHA, AWWA, WEF 2005) and Official Methods of
Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC 2000); while
the significance of these characteristics for waste treatment and recycling can be
found in Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science (Sawyer et al.