01474103

Component

Approximately 1.1 million deer-vehicle collisions occur in the United States each year. The predominant methods of disposing of these carcasses (landfill and burial) have several costly disadvantages, including long travel distances to landfills, increasing landfill restrictions, and lack of viable burial areas. Some states have found static compost windrows to be an easy and cost-effective carcass management technique. In this study, deer mortality static compost windrows were monitored for 1 year. Windrows were analyzed for pathogen destruction and the degree to which underlying soil filtered leachate contaminants. In response to high windrow temperatures, indicator pathogens E. coli and Salmonella were reduced by 99.99% the first sampling day (Day 7) and ascarids were deemed non-viable by Day 77. Soil filtration of leachate was effective in reducing concentrations of ammonia, chloride, and total organic carbon. Nitrate, a contaminant of particular regulatory concern, had an estimated mass contaminant loss of 1.9 lb/acre, compared to the estimated 8 to 45 lb/acre loss from fertilizer application on agronomic crops in Virginia. Results of this study indicate that with properly constructed static compost windrows, (1) high temperatures destroy indicator pathogens; (2) the natural filtration of leachate through soil reduces deer mortality contaminant concentrations; and (3) the low volume of leachate from windrows results in nominal losses of nitrate and other contaminants. These results will be useful for compost regulators and entities interested in incorporating this practice into regular operations.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC60 Waste Management and Resource Efficiency in Transportation.

01470560

13-1221

English

18p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References

Compost; Contaminants; Decomposition; Deer; Environmental impacts; Leachate; Road kill

Deer-vehicle collisions

Environment; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I15: Environment; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-1221

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:20PM