Recycling of Biological Waste for Local Production of Vegetables in Nairobi - Research Paper Example

? Recycling of Biological Waste For Local Production of Vegetables in Nairobi, Kenya (Working Word Count: 3,000 words (12 pages) I. Project Background and Justification (300 words) The background of this project is as follows. What is going to be investigated, in particular, is environmental policies taking place in Nairobi, Kenya—specifically, what can be done to manage waste properly in this rural country, utilizing the development of waste processing facilities. These waste processing facilities can manage taking in solid organic kitchen and household wastes. The end-products which these facilities generate can be used for fertilisation and/or soil improvement by local agricultural producers. There are a variety of foci which must be addressed. These foci include: identifying locally relevant options; optimization of composting processes; organization of any waste handling that occurs; the homogeneity and safety of the generated products; and acceptance of the generated products by end users. Here it will be analyzed what roles soil, plants, and oxygen play in composting in rural communities such as the one described here. Usually, what happens with soil is that the moisture in composting tends to have various gases that are eliminated into the air due to organic elements having been introduced into the soil. “The moisture content of casts is an important driving force controlling the direction of nitrification–denitrification process, thus in dry– wet cycles, increases and decreases in ammonium and nitrate contents, respectively, may occur. Therefore, the decreases in water content of casts over time may favour the predomination of nitrification processes” (Aira, Monroy, & Dominguez, 2005, pp. 470). Additionally, plant life is especially important to composting organic elements within the soil. “The root basis of plants with an age of more than three years are places of ‘retreat’ for earthworms during the dry season when the soil completely dries out up to a depth of 1 meter and more…Within this rotting material, small numbers of epigeic living earthworms can be found” (Bierwirth, 2001, pp. 3). Oxygen is also a very important element in the composting process. “The results [of this study] are relevant to the supply of oxygen…to sediments for the phytopurification of waste waters, to the efflux of methane and carbon dioxide from wetlands, and to rice cultivation” (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2001, Abstract). II. Objectives (100 words) The main focus of the research proposal is much in the direction of safe handling of urban wastes, the processing and the quality of the end product as a soil amendment. As mentioned, the work is planned to take place in Nairobi. Some of the recent work on urban agriculture and waste recycling will be analyzed. This includes knowing what steps are necessary to take in composting, and how current research has helped inform the approach that will be taken. It is hoped that, with this research, third-world composting in rural Africa will become more widely-accepted and widely-adopted all over. III. Research Questions (1,250 words) Research Questions (50 words) Research questions include the following: a) What are locally relevant options? B) How can composting processes be optimized? c) How is waste handling organized? How homogenous and safe are the generated products? and d) What is the acceptance of the end products by the public? a. Locally Relevant Options for Vegetable Production in Nairobi (300 words) Locally relevant options include trying to control pests. Pests can affect crops, which can then make the problem of yield losses worse, when trying to produce cash crops. “[P]ests may affect yield loss independently in natural farming, but in conventional paddies, multiple pest injury may interact synergistically, compounding yield loss” (Andow & Hidaka, 1998, Abstract). Another locally relevant option for vegetable production in Nairobi might be testing the soil. It is important to know what type of soil is being used for which particular crop; this information might be useful in trying to determine whether or not one type of soil might be beneficial in producing one crop or another. Vegetable production in Nairobi might be especially more difficult, if there is high heat and little water. Especially in more rural communities, where water must actually be carried on-site from a local well, it could take a long time to actually get the water itself. Thus, the water might need to be rationed. For example, if one is producing vegetables in one’s own personal garden—speaking from the standpoint of someone who knows someone having lived in rural Africa doing pioneering in environmental policy—it can be very difficult to produce vegetables in such an area. This is partially due to the fact that the well was a couple miles away from the village that this person lived in. Therefore, any time that this person’s vegetables had to be watered, this individual had to walk to the well, get the water, and bring it back to the village. As one can probably imagine, this is not only difficult—it is unrealistic to assume that, in such an arid region as Nairobi, Kenya—it might also present hardship to those living outside the polis but are considered part of the city. b. The Optimization of Composting Processes (300 words) Composting processes can very well be optimized by utilizing different materials, including cow and chicken excrement, including various plant and other residues. “In our laboratory the work is in progress to demonstrate the management of solid textile mill sludge (STMS) by vermicomposting. The laboratory based experiments have been conducted on vermicomposting of STMS spiked with cow dung (CD), biogas plant slurry (BPS), poultry droppings (PD) and agricultural residues” (Garg & Kaushik, Year Unknown, Abstract). Composting can be a healthy alternative to simply throwing away garbage. Usually, in situations such as that of sub-Saharan Africa, there is a danger of people in rural areas just throwing their trash wherever it lays, and leaving it there. Unless there is a fundamental change in the way trash is handled in Africa, this could become an even more serious problem than it is now. Composting is basically taking trash that is biodegradable and then using it as a sort of fertilizer. Elements that are good for composting, can, as mentioned above, be such things like animal waste and other forms of agricultural run-off. Other elements that can be used in composting include—but are not limited to—egg shells and human hair, for example. Anything that is natural and/or organically-produced can be composted. This might propose a challenge in Nairobi. Since waste decomposes rather quickly—especially any type of waste that is wet—it might be a challenge to try to minimize the gas(es) that might be emitted from such biodegradable types of garbage. Also, another problem is where to put biodegradable waste. Should it go into a landfill? Should it be buried in the ground? There are a number of questions. Hopefully, these and other questions will be answered as time goes on, but in the meantime those are valid questions to ponder. c. How Waste Handling is Organized (300 words) Waste handling in Africa is organized in such a way that contamination can be controlled. “[In Africa,]… environmental degradation due to intensive use of agrochemicals in crop production has created greater interest in the use of vermicompost to supply necessary mineral elements to produce organically grown [items]… minimizing contamination of soils and waterways” (Theunissen, Ndakidemi, & Laubscher, 2010, pp. 1). Waste handling, as mentioned before, must be done in such a way that it doesn’t pollute either the groundwater—of which there is little already—or the soil itself. If the soil and/or water becomes contaminated, this could pose a public health hazard. Thus, the handling of hazardous wastes must be conducted with care. Improper waste handling can release toxic gases into the air. That is why, in Africa, where there are such hot temperatures, it should be widely-publicized that people should lead garbage-free lives as much as possible. In order to live garbage-free, there must be a system of recycling in place so that nothing is wasted. In order so that nothing is wasted, Nairobi should move to a system whereby average citizens are encouraged to live garbageless lives. Such a thing can be done, but it requires much education of the public and the ability to demonstrate to people how, long-term, this will affect everything—their own health, the health of their children, the health of their grandchildren, and beyond. If it is possible to get Kenyans to think about how their actions now are going to affect those in the future and affect themselves in the present, they will do much more in order to not make this planet even more toxic than it already is, by propagating the myth that having to be a garbage-producing society is a standard norm. This is important, without a doubt. d. Acceptance of End Products By the Public (280 words) The end products created (i.e., vegetables) will be the product of carefully considering a compost plan and a choice of soil, a plan to water the vegetables, and a plan to safely reduce or eliminate biological wastes through recycling or evading biological waste entirely. A compost plan must be designed if the goal is to recycle waste if it can’t be completely eliminated—which might be a better solution short-term for two to three years until Nairobi can become coordinated enough in order to learn how to live as a garbageless society. The choice of soil for composting as well as growing vegetables should be chosen based on soil quality and its ability to absorb biological waste, or, if the situation permits, to be chosen based on its ability to nourish the vegetables that would grow on it or in it. A watering schedule would also have to be carefully planned for the vegetables, if these particular vegetables required frequent watering. In addition, in order to reduce or eliminate biological wastes, sustainability techniques could be taught to local Kenyans living in Nairobi about how to live a garbageless lifestyle—which has been proven to work and is a possibility—but this may be more of an option once people are more educated about how to do this and after people have learned how to recycle biological wastes through composting, which is the first key step to Nairobi’s evolving environment. Unless they’re educated, people are going to continue to do what they’ve always done, which means they would be polluting the earth. The public must be educated on how to get the end product of vegetables while not sacrificing their environment. IV. Methods (625 words) The main method that is going to be used in order to conduct research is a questionnaire which will be devised of several questions requiring yes or no answers. Since one wants definitive research, no alternative will be given to the yes or no. Either the person taking the questionnaire answers yes to a question or statement provided, or they answer no. This is really not that complicated. On certain questionnaires, there are alternative answers to yes/no questions. However, this will present more problems that benefits. Thus, it must be assumed that every question or statement will have a positive or negative value. A second method that will be used includes the interviewing of experts in the field of environmental sciences with sustainability approaches. Experts who can speak to the problems that the arid region of Nairobi poses to various vegetable crops—considering the conditions of the land pursuant to factors related to composting and other ways to recycle biological wastes—should be investigated. Experts in these fields of environmental policy, people who have previously had experience living in Africa, and top officials who have some knowledge about living in Nairobi specifically, especially, should all be contacted. Native Kenyans who are from Nairobi could also be interviewed, providing a valuable wealth of information about their home city to the researcher. After all, sometimes firsthand accounts are always better than secondary sources, and these sources of information should be utilised to the maximum potential possible. Thus, the researcher will have to cull resources from various channels of social networking and so forth in order to encourage the propagation of information that might be helpful in the regard of this research. Once people know that the research is intended to help people, they may be more willing and more likely to participate if they know it is for the ecological benefit of Nairobi. The third and final method of conducting research will include some type of experiment, which would hopefully be an experiment in order to substantiate various claims by testing those claims or hypotheses in a real-world environment—even if simulated. It is unsure how this could be done without actually being in Nairobi, but perhaps conditions could be simulated and then the results of the research could finally be published. In order for an experiment to take place, first the researcher would have to decide which part of recycling biological waste the researcher would want to investigate. There are a variety of options here. For argument’s sake, it will not be assumed that the experiment will involve animals of any stripe. Some type of experiment would have to be performed which showed the various benefits of recycling biological waste and the minimalization of risk posed to groundwater and soil due to composting non-animal materials that are organic. While a clinical trial may not deal with animals, it is of utmost importance that some living, organic items be used in the composting trial. Objections may be raised about what type of material or materials are going to be used in the composting trial, but in the end, much of what ends up being in the trials or experiments will be largely dependent upon what is available, and what the public doesn’t object to seeing in an experiment. For example, there might be an outrage if one of the materials being composted would be human hair. While organic and non-animal, human hair is nonetheless a sort of byproduct that could be included in compost, but it might not be an ethically wise decision to use any products that are human-related—otherwise it could raise an ethical dilemma, which will be spoken about more in the next section. After all, without calculated forethought, an experiment could be kiboshed. V. Risk and Ethics of Proposed Research (625 words) Introduction (25 words) The risk and ethics of this research will be discussed here, including: risks if nothing is done; and the ethics of the questionnaire to be conducted. a. Risks (350) The risks associated with conducting a questionnaire with at least a sample size of 30 people is very small to negligible. Real risks would be inherent if actual research were being conducted in terms of depositing waste in an area similar to the conditions of Nairobi and trying to create a similar situation, or even test the soil and allow types of run-off to be measured as compost was actually being created. Within the bounds of a questionnaire, there is really little risk involved, except the possibility that someone might sue the researcher, should the researcher try to gather too much personal information about the person taking the questionnaire, or invade the person’s privacy. That is why it is usually wise, when conducting questionnaires or clinical trials, to allow the persons answering the questionnaires or being studied in the trial to be allowed to remain anonymous—with only absolutely necessary information annotated for data purposes (such as gender and age). The court of public opinion, however, does not research for a dissertation fully make. That is why it might be of interest for the person conducting research to actually speak with experts on the subject of the growth of vegetation in Nairobi—or places similar to Nairobi—in how to properly recycle biological waste. Being able to interview experts who have been in the field could provide invaluable knowledge to the field of study—and this would include interviews with the top Ph.D.’s in the environmental sciences, who have a background in researching sustainability. In addition to a questionnaire being circulated and conducting interviews, it would be ideal if some sort of simulation experiment could be conducted, which would be hard science to back up the theory that is being expressed in the dissertation. Thusly, if some type of experiment could be conducted regarding vermicomposting, that would be ideal. However, this might be next to impossible since worms are animals, and animals may not have experiments conducted upon them for student research, most likely. That is also an ethical issue, so it might not be a wise idea test animals. b. Ethics (270) Conducting experiments on humans or animals, or any of their respective byproducts is risky business, just because it could be deemed unethical. Usually, when studies, trials, or experiments are conducted in the beginning, no one really knows how certain stimuli will affect the participants of the study, trial, or experiment. That is what is the major problem with experimenting with humans and animals, besides the obvious fact that doing experiments on live subjects is base and inhumane at its very worst. At its best, it is suffering in the name of science caused for those whose lives are deemed worth less than others’. This is not necessarily always true of research subjects; it is a generalization. However, the ethics of conducting trials upon live subjects will always be a debate, and that is really the only ethical consideration that should be undertaken, when the researcher conducting the experiment is formulating how the experiment will be performed. Any scientist who doesn’t think about this seriously before beginning an experiment is committing a serious error, and that scientist’s actions should be exposed for what it really is—farming out humans or animals to take part in a study which is using those live subjects in order to basically be guinea pigs in order so that a select sector of the populace can benefit from the research that is undertaken by a few—some volunteers and others forced to participate inordinately. Careful caution must always be taken by a researcher when considering utilising live subjects in any kind of testing, otherwise that researcher could be violating ethics in terms of breaking the law. VI. Expected Outcomes and Time Schedule (100 words) The expected outcomes of the questionnaire are that more needs to be definitively done about waste management in Africa. The time schedule for this project will vary depending upon how much time is available. At the appropriate time, a schedule will be devised in order to more fully realise the extent of the research that will be performed and the tools and resources that will be needed in order to complete it. The Gantt Chart below will show what the rough timetable is for the completion of the project to be fully realized. This schedule will be followed very strictly. Artifact/Chapter Portion Due Date Introduction: Background Introduction: Statement of the Problem Introduction: Purpose of the Project Introduction: Need for the Project Introduction: Research Questions Introduction: Hypothesis/Objectives Introduction: Definition of Terms Lit. Review: Introduction Lit. Review: Theoretical Framework Methodology: Research Design Methodology: Participants Methodology: Role of Researcher Methodology: Information Collection Methodology: Procedures Methodology: Information Analysis Data Analysis and Results (DAR): Data Analysis and Results, Organized According to the Research Questions Conclusions: Findings or Interpretation of Results Conclusions: Generalizations Conclusions: Limitations Conclusions: Implications Conclusions: References & Appendices for the Outline of Dissertation BIBLIOGRAPHY Aira, M., Monroy, F., & Dominguez, J. 2005. Ageing effects on nitrogen dynamics and enzyme activities in casts of Aporrectodea caliginosa (lumbricidae). Pedobiologia, 49, 467-472. Andow, D.A., & Hidaka, K. 1998. Yield loss in conventional and natural rice farming systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 70, 151-158. Armstrong, J., & Armstrong, W. 2001. Rice and Phragmites: effects of organic acids on growth root permeability, and radial oxygen loss to the rhizosphere. American Journal of Botany, 88 1359-1370. Bierwirth, Jurgen. 2001. Composting experiments in the BioVillage Project, Gurage Zone, Ethiopia. BioVillage Compost Trials, 03-07, 2000. Garg, V.K., & Kaushik, P. Dynamics of vermicomposting of solid textile mill sludge spiked with various organic wastes. Year unknown. (Unpublished) Theunissen, J., Ndakidemi, P.A., and Laubscher, C.P. 2010. Potential of vermicompost produced from plant waste on the growth and nutrient status in vegetable production. International Journal of the Physical Sciences Vol. 5(13), pp. 1964-1973. APPENDIX I. Further References for Future Research Axelsson, L.T. 1993. Lactic acid bacteria: classification and physiology. In: Salminen, S., & Von Wright, A. (Eds.). Lactic acid bacteria. New York, USA: Marcel Dekker, Inc. Azarmi, R., Ziveh, P.S., & Satari, M.R. 2008. Effect of vermicompost on growth, yield, and nutrient status of tomato. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 11: 1797-1802. Bamforth, C.W. 2005. Food, fermentation and micro-organisms. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. Battcock, M., & Azam-Ali, S. 1998. Fermented fruits and vegetables: a global perspective. In: FAO (Ed.). Rome: Italy Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Brown, G.G., Edwards, C.A., & Brussaard, L. 2004. How Earthworms Effect Plant Growth: Burrowing into the Mechanisms. In: Edwards, C.A., Ed. Earthworm ecology. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Christensen, J.E., Dudley, E.G., Pederson, J.A., & Steele, J.L. 1999. Peptidases and amino acid catabolism in lactic acid bacteria. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 76: 217-246. Dominguez, J. 2004. State-of-the-art and the new perspective on vericomposting research. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Sharma, A.K. 2002. Biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture. Jodhpur, India: Agrobios. Shen, D. 2000. Beneficial microorganisms and metabolites derived from agriculture wastes improving plant health and protection. In: Xu, H., Parr, J.F., & Umemura, H., Eds. Nature farming and microbial applications. Bringhamton, USA: Food Products Press. Spildevandscenter, O., Ed. 2009. In: Stiles, M.E., & Holzapfel, W.H. 1997. Lactic acid bacteria of foods and their current taxonomy. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 36: 1-29. Tan, K.H. 2003. Humic matter in soil and the environment: principles and controversies. New York City, USA: Marcel Dekker. Tancho, A. 2008. Natural Farming applied for Thailand Pratumthanee province. Thailand: NSTDA (National Science and Technology Development Agency). Xu, H. 2000. Soil-root interface water potential in sweet corn as affected by organic fertilizer and a microbial inoculant. In: Xu, H., Parr, J.F., & Umemura, H., Eds. Nature farming and microbial applications. Bringhamton, USA: Food Products Press. Xu, H., Wang, R., & Mridha, A.U. 2000. Effects of organic fertilizers and a microbial inoculant on leaf photosynthesis and fruit yield and quality of tomato plants. In: Xu, H., Parr, J.F., & Umemura, H., Eds. Nature farming and microbial applications. Bringhamton, USA: Food Products Press. Read More