Food Scrap Size Influence on the Recycling of Organic Waste by the Annelid Worm Eisenia fetida

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dc.contributor.advisorKindahl, Eric
dc.contributor.authorAltamimi, Najeyah
dc.contributor.departmentEnvironmental Biologyen_US
dc.contributor.programEnvironmental Biology Masters Programen_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-10T20:07:24Z
dc.date.available2022-12-10T20:07:24Z
dc.date.issued2022-12-09
dc.description.abstractThe U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 30-40% of food is lost or wasted at the retail and consumer levels. Unfortunately, much of this waste is sent to landfills, requiring land, labor, and energy for disposal. Given the various benefits of managing waste through vermicomposting, it is evident that vermicomposting is an excellent alternative to traditional composting methods. To mitigate the lack of research on vermicomposting, this study investigates the influence of food scrap size on indoor vermicomposting by the annelid worm Eisenia fetida. The study used 16 vermicomposting units distributed among a control and three treatment groups. The treatment groups used food substrate that had been processed in a food chopper for varying lengths of time (either 5 seconds, 10 seconds, or 30 seconds). The control group used food substrate that was not processed by a food chopper. Overall, the study suggests that there is a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the rate of decomposition of food scraps in days between the control and the treatment groups. In general, this study suggests that processing food scraps is a more efficient approach to indoor vermicomposting.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by Hood College’s Graduate Research Funden_US
dc.format.extent17 pagesen_US
dc.genreThesesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2led0-wegx
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/26436
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectSustainbilityen_US
dc.subjectCompostingen_US
dc.subjectVermicomposingen_US
dc.subjectFood Wasteen_US
dc.titleFood Scrap Size Influence on the Recycling of Organic Waste by the Annelid Worm Eisenia fetidaen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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