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Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil 's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes ...
Biodegradation is the naturally-occurring breakdown of materials by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi or other biological activity. [ 35] Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradation occurs under a specific set of circumstances. [ 36] The predominant difference between the two is that one process is naturally-occurring ...
Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the making of convenience foods. Some food processing methods play important roles in reducing food waste ...
Acidogenic digestate produced from mixed municipal waste. Digestate is the material remaining after the anaerobic digestion (decomposition under low oxygen conditions) of a biodegradable feedstock. Anaerobic digestion produces two main products: digestate and biogas. Digestate is produced both by acidogenesis and methanogenesis and each has ...
Alabama’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta is a more-than 400-square-mile (1,036-square-kilometer) expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers unusually rich in plant and ...
Food loss and waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain – production, processing, sales, and consumption. [ 13][ 12] Definitions of what constitutes food loss versus food waste or what parts of foods (i.e., inedible parts) exit the food supply chain are considered lost or wasted vary. [ 12]
The global blue water footprint of food waste is 250 km 3, the amount of water that flows annually through the Volga or three times Lake Geneva. [197] There are several factors that explain how food waste has increased globally in food systems. The main factor is population, because as population increases more food is being made, but most food ...
Manure. Animal manure is often a mixture of animal feces and bedding straw, as in this example from a stable. Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and ...