Abstract
Home and community composting are key strategies for local organic waste management. The quality and safety of industrial composts are controlled, but those of home and community composts are not, and this could make them unsafe for use in kitchen gardens. Home (n = 20) and community (n = 41) composts, from urban and suburban areas including mildly Pb-contaminated allotment gardens, were analyzed for quality and safety regarding trace metals and metalloids (TMM) using mid-infrared Fourier transform spectrometry (FT-MIR) and portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, respectively. Home composts had a significantly higher Pb content (98 mg.kg−1 ± 10 mg.kg−1) than community composts (21 mg.kg−1 ± 2 mg.kg−1). Numerous home composts (85%) and a few community composts (17%) exceeded the organic farming thresholds for Pb (45 mg.kg−1) and Zn (100 mg.kg−1). The high mineral matter content and the relative abundance of chemical functions attributable to silicates (up to 35%) highly paralleled with TMM contents, mostly concentrated in the fine fraction. Co-inertia analysis highlighted strong and significant links between TMM contents and the whole chemical signature delivered by FT-MIR spectrometry. Pb-contaminated soil could be carried into home compost by green waste or by voluntary addition. Covariance analyses indicated that mineral matter and chemical functions only partly explained the variability in Pb content, suggesting a more complex combination of drivers. Community composting appears as a suitable local solution resulting in high-quality compost that complies with European organic farming regulations, while home composting from allotment gardens should be seriously evaluated to comply with such safety requirements.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the POTAGERS project (grant number 1972C0018), financed by the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency), which also financed the PhD grant of the lead author along with Gustave Eiffel University. We thank Agriopale Co. (Cucq, France) for providing compost samples as a partner of the POTAGERS project. We would also like to thank all the other contributors who allowed us to collect compost samples in the urban area of Nantes (France): the gardeners from the Jardins de la Fournillère and Compostri associations, Compost In Situ, La Tricyclerie, and the municipality of Bouguenais. Information about the composting sites was provided personally by the gardeners of the Jardins de la Fournillère, Mr. Samir Demortier (Compostri), Mr. Pascal Retière and Mr. Dana Pfeuty (Compost In Situ), Mr. Pierre Briand (La Tricyclerie), and Mr. Nicolas Biteau (municipality of Bouguenais), thanks to all of them. We also thank the laboratory MOLTECH-Anjou of the University of Angers and Dr. Olivier Alévêque (CNRS) for supplying measuring equipment and technical assistance.
Funding
This study is part of the POTAGERS project (grant number 1972C0018), funded by the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency). The first author received a PhD grant from the ADEME and Gustave Eiffel University.
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Funding acquisition: Laure Vidal-Beaudet, Liliane Jean-Soro; conceptualization: Alice Kohli, René Guénon, Liliane Jean-Soro, Laure Vidal-Beaudet; methodology: Alice Kohli, René Guénon, Liliane Jean-Soro, Laure Vidal-Beaudet; formal analysis and investigation: Alice Kohli; writing—original draft preparation: Alice Kohli; writing—review and editing: Alice Kohli, René Guénon, Liliane Jean-Soro, Laure Vidal-Beaudet. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Kohli, A., Guénon, R., Jean-Soro, L. et al. Home and community composts in Nantes city (France): quality and safety regarding trace metals and metalloids. Environ Monit Assess 194, 649 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10251-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10251-0