Microbial Approaches to Characterization of Composting Processes

▪ Passage in 1979 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act by Congress resulted in a mandate to control and regulate the use of solid wastes on the land (Federal Register, 1979). The more recent landfill crisis followed by the ocean dumping ban and tightening of air emission standards has significantly influenced solid waste practice in the direction of biodegradation via composting.A rapid increase in composting technologies concomitant with increased environmental concern regarding the fate of bacteria, particularly pathogens, means that new opportunities and dangers exist with regard to microbial disposition of solid waste. The impact of new compost technologies on microorganism selection is not known and uncertainty exists as to survival mechanisms of potential pathogens initially present in waste. New microbial methodologies are needed to characterize bacteria involved in composting, and to determine the influence of compost technology on bacterial species selection, especially pathogens.