ABSTRACT Solid waste management continues to be a serious environmental issue due to the increase in industrialization, population growth, and urbanization. However, recycling organic wastes through composting techniques provides an opportunity to mitigate the impacts on the ecosystem and the pressure on landfills and be economically feasible and sustainable. Composting bins and vermicomposting techniques experimented with within this project have exhibited excellent results in nutrients and conditions conducive to plant growth. However, the enhanced nutrient composition was recorded for nitrogen (N) in the vermicompost bin (VB) (57.27±3.13 ppm) than compost bin (CB) (31.96±3.72 ppm), potassium (K) VB (1154.56±78.71) than CB (1000.4±139.04 ppm), magnesium (Mg) VB (1217.3±126 ppm) than CB (525.3±138 ppm), iron (Fe) VB (3.76±0.27 ppm) than CB 1.32±0.25 ppm) and copper (Cu) VB (11.01±3.14 ppm) than CB (3.31±0.09 ppm). Moreover, statistical analyses have indicated a significant difference (p>0.05) in N, Mg, Ca, and Cu between the compost produced from VB and CB, respectively. It is important to note that both processes can produce the quality of compost sustainably, vermicompost with a higher amount of N progressively will reduce the processing and will boast plant growth and development and hence higher crop production and yield.

Keywords: Biodegradable, compost, earthworms, organic waste, vermicompost, waste management