Life cycle assessment of the use of compost from municipal organic waste for fertilization of tomato crops

Several authors have assessed the positive repercussions of compost application in soil and the benefits of composting process, although most previous works focused only on a specific aspect of the whole life cycle of compost. The aim of this paper was to determine the environmental impacts associated to the use of compost, from the collection of organic municipal solid waste to its application to tomato crops, and to compare these results with mineral fertilizer application, using the environmental tool of life cycle assessment. Three fertilizing systems were defined, arising from the dosages of mineral and organic fertilizers applied. The environmental performance of the pilot fields and the industrial composting were based on experimental measured data. The use of compost in horticulture demonstrated to be a treatment with fewer impacts than mineral fertilizer, if the avoided loads were considered, although compost production was a critical stage which needs to be optimised. No differences were observed in terms of agricultural production and quality. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.