Sawdust is the main bulking agent used to compost food waste in Korea but it is not an economically desirable choice because its availability entirely depends on imports. Since food waste composting provides agricultural, environmental and economic benefits, it is vital that we search for suitable replacements to sawdust from the locally available materials. In this study, we assessed the composting characteristics of food waste amended with various bulking agents including sawdust, ginkgo leaves, insect feces, and mushroom waste. Each of the bulking agents was mixed with the food waste in ratios of 3:7, respectively. Even though the initial temperatures were highest in the mixture of the food waste and insect feces whose temperature stood at 65 °C against 39, 58 and 51 °C in the sawdust, ginkgo leaves and mushroom waste mixtures, respectively on the third day of the experiment (DAT 3), it was terminated on the 21st day (DAT 21) because of excessively high water content (70.92%). The water content of the composted food waste supplemented with sawdust, mushroom waste, and ginkgo leaves stood at 51.28, 39.81, and 44.92%, respectively at the end of the experiment and therefore, the fully mature composts satisfied the water content requirement of less than 55% established by the Rural Development Agency of the ministry of Agriculture of Korea. The results of the CoMMe-101, Solvita and seed germination index indicated that the composted food waste amended with the mushroom waste and ginkgo leaves matured relatively quicker than that of the sawdust amendment. Based on the above observations, it is clear that the mushroom waste and ginkgo leaves are actually more effective bulking agents than the sawdust and as such, are recommended as suitable replacements for sawdust in food waste composting.

中文翻译：

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非常规填充剂在韩国堆肥厨余中的效率

在韩国，木屑是用于堆肥食物垃圾的主要填充剂，但它在经济上并不理想，因为其可用性完全取决于进口。由于食物垃圾堆肥可带来农业，环境和经济利益，因此至关重要的是，我们要从当地可得的材料中寻找合适的木屑替代品。在这项研究中，我们评估了用各种填充剂（包括锯末，银杏叶，昆虫粪便和蘑菇废料）修正的餐厨垃圾的堆肥特性。将每种填充剂与食物残渣分别以3：7的比例混合。尽管食物垃圾和昆虫粪便的混合物的初始温度最高，但它们的温度分别为65°C和木屑，银杏叶和蘑菇垃圾混合物的39、58和51°C，分别在实验的第三天（DAT 3），由于含水量过高（70.92％）而在第21天（DAT 21）终止。实验结束时，添加了木屑，蘑菇废料和银杏叶的堆肥食品垃圾中的水含量分别为51.28％，39.81％和44.92％，因此，完全成熟的堆肥满足了水含量不超过10％的要求。 55％由韩国农业部农村发展局设立。CoMMe-101，Solvita和种子发芽指数的结果表明，用蘑菇废料和银杏叶改良的堆肥食品废料比锯末改良剂成熟得更快。基于以上观察，