Composting samples were collected at the beginning of the process, during the thermophilic phase, at the end of the bio-oxidative phase and at the end of maturation. Samples were taken manually at three sites of the pile, from the whole profile (top to bottom). Composite, representative samples were obtained after mixing and homogenising thoroughly the three sub-samples. Each representative sample was divided into three fractions in the laboratory: one was dried in a drying-oven at 105 °C for 24 h to determine the moisture content, the second was immediately kept in refrigeration (4 °C) for determination of the microbial groups and the third was air-dried and ground to less than 0.5 mm for the rest of the analytical determinations.