Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar inaugurated a well-equipped bio-compost plant in the North Khorassan province, Northeastern Iran, on Saturday, Fars reported.
The plant which enjoys 1,400 meters of processing line and 3,000 meters of sorting, had last week test-started its activities.
The plant is capable of recycling 250 tons of garbage and the amount can be increased to 500 tons.
The bio-compost plant has been set up at the cost of about $4mln in Bojnourd city.
The term bio-compost means plant matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer or manure. Bio-compost is considered as a key ingredient in organic farming.
Bio-compost is very rich in nutrients. It is mainly used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, and agriculture. The process bio-composting is done by simply piling up wastes in the garden or any outdoor place and then leave it undisturbed for a year or more.
Bio-compost in the ecosystems is very useful for control of soil erosion, wetland construction, and as landfill cover.
Modern day bio-composting process has many steps like monitoring of the composting. It is usually done by shredding the plant matter, adding of sufficient water to maintain the proper moisture level and then regularly turning the mixture to provide better aeration.
Worms and fungi added helps in the process of decomposition. They break up the complex compounds into simpler ones and during the process lots of heat, carbon dioxide and ammonium is produced.
This ammonium is again utilized by the microbes which are made available to the plants as nitrites and nitrates.
Edited by: S. Isayev