Waste Recycling

Effective Microorganism

Effective Microorganism (EM) is a versatile product that contains microorganisms found in all ecosystems. This product is widely used in sustainable environment management. The principle of EM is the conversion of a degraded ecosystem which is full of harmful microbes, to a productive ecosystem that contains useful microorganisms.

EM is a liquid concentrate that respects nature and does not contain genetically engineered microbes.

The concentrate of selected species of microorganisms includes predominant populations of lactic acid bacteria, yeast, photosynthetic bacteria, smaller quantities of actinomycetes, fermenting fungi and other types.

EM 1 is activated by the following procedure used for application in effluent treatment: One kg of jaggery is dissolved in 19 liters of water. After filtering this mixture, one liter of EM 1 is added to the jaggery water, and the solution is kept in a closed container for five days. This solution is called extended EM. Four kg of Zeolite (sodium aluminium silicate) is put in a container and drops of extended EM are added. The resultant product is called EM Bokashi, a Japanese word meaning “fermented”.

It is mixed thoroughly until the material becomes a paste. The paste is then shaped into balls weighing 100 g each. Each ball is covered with green leaf (Banana or Teak), put in closed polythene bags and kept within closed plastic containers for four to five days to allow fermentation. After fermentation, these balls are called EM Bokashi.

Vermicompost is also used as an adsorbent to remove heavy metals such as Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) ions laboratory effluents. (Matos and Arruda 2003).

Around the world, experiments are being conducted on several earthworm species with respect to compost material and application of vermicompost. Comparative studies to evaluate composting potential by Eisenia foetida(non-native) and Lempito mauritii (endemic) species were performed by Tripathi and Bharadawaj (2004) in the semiarid environment of Jodphur district of Rajasthan in India.

Overall observations indicate E. foetida may be a more efficient breeder than L.mauritii in the desert region of Rajasthan. Eisenia foetida is the most common worm used for vermicomposting, which feeds on the compost pile from the bottom.