Reuse of Sewage Sludge as Organic Agricultural Products: An Efficient Technology-Based Initiative

Rapid urbanisation has led to a dramatic increase in sewage sludge production. There are limited methods of managing sewage sludge along with high energy and monetary investment. A cost-effective, environment-friendly, and sustainable solution needs to be developed for the management of sewage sludge. In the current study, sludge from the Jagjeetpur sewage treatment plant (STP) had been collected, composted, and characterized during January and February 2022. A comparison of STP sludge compost and compost made from farmyard manure showed the presence of essential agricultural nutrients in them, due to which they find application for plant growth. Two products, Jaivik Poshak and Jaivik Prom, containing farmyard compost, were compared with the amended version of the same, containing compost from STP sludge instead of normal compost. The results showed that the modified Jaivik Poshak was the best for maintaining pH and increasing electrical conductivity. The available nitrogen in the soil upon its application increased by 1.6 times (p