Abstract
New global trends connect municipal solid waste management to climate change mitigation and resource depletion policies. In this context, decentralized composting stands out as a tool that has the potential to, at the same time, divert about 50% of waste from landfills and treat it in an environmentally adequate manner, return nutrients to the soil, removed at the beginning of the production cycle, and promote environmental awareness. However, decentralized composting rates remain low in many countries, especially low- and middle-income countries. This review critically evaluates the information that has already been published about decentralized composting and considers the progress of current research on the topic. The systematic literature search yielded 199 publications, of which 114 were analyzed for meeting the proposed criteria. The contents were grouped into categories, such as methods and techniques, difficulties of implementation, impacts, comparison with other treatments and between scales, compost quality and destination, types of programs, socio-educational dimension, and case studies. This review highlights the main points of the different areas of knowledge involved, achieving an integrated and critical view, connected with the new trends in municipal solid waste management.
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The authors are deeply grateful to the staff of Socioecological Systems Laboratory of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) and Pró-Reitoria de Extensão of Federal University of Minas Gerais.
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Luísa Couto Gonçalves de Souza had the idea of the article, performed the literature search, the data analysis, and drafted the work. Maria Auxiliadora Drumond guided in the execution of the above steps and critically reviewed the work.
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de Souza, L.C.G., Drumond, M.A. Decentralized composting as a waste management tool connect with the new global trends: a systematic review. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 12679–12700 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04504-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04504-1