MANAGEMENT OF PAPER WASTE BY VERMICOMPOSTING USING THE EARTHWORM LAMPITO MAURITIIV. SENTHIL AND R. SIVAKAMIAbstract It has been estimated that the world paper industry has been registering a growth of 2.8% perannum resulting in a large amount of paper waste. Disposing paper waste requires a large amount of land fill spaces. Recent studies have shown that earthworms have an ability to decompose a variety of organic residues. Hence the present study was undertaken to analyse the vermicomposting ability of the earthworm Lampitomauritti using paper waste as a substrate.Results indicate that there was a significant reduction in pH and an increase in the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and exchangeable potassium as the days progressed. With increase in days,the earthworm production and weight gain increased. There was a 58% reduction in the substrate at the end of the 65th day. |