摘要：A study was conducted to understand the effect of composting on heavy metal contents of waste material at the waste dump yard at Laloor, of Thrissur district in Kerala state. The material collected from Laloor was subjected to aerobic and anaerobic methods of composting with the use of equal quantities of farm yard manure. For aerobic composting waste material and cow dung in 1:1 ratio 100kg each was mixed and heaped. Biogas unit of 0.5m3 capacity was used for anaerobic composting. Waste material and cowdung of the same quantity (100 kg) as above was mixed and fed to the unit on a daily basis. The slurry collected was used for analysis. Compared to aerobic composting, anaerobic method was better for removal of the heavy metals. The heavy metal content (mg kg-1), was observed to be higher in aerobic compost with an average of total Pb 99.18, Co 6.9, Ni 33.64, Cr 99.52 and Hg 0.29 mg kg-1 respectively and slurry it was Pb 2.16 , Co 0.24, Ni 1.2, Cr 28.06 and Hg 0.03 mg kg-1 respectively.
