The Hindu 12.02.2014
Now, gas from vegetable waste!
Everyday the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) does the
gargantuan task of mopping up around 4,000 metric tonnes of municipal
solid waste generated by the city and transport it to the gigantic
municipal dump yard at Jawaharnagar.
Even though segregation of
waste has been a non-starter, a few municipal officials have been taking
the initiative to ‘manage’ the biodegradable waste. For instance, in
Macha Bolarum area under Alwal circle, a unique ‘biomethation’ plant of
converting vegetable waste into gas has been running successfully.
Six
months ago, North Zone Commissioner S. Harikrishna and his team noticed
lot of waste generated by the vegetable market in the area and any
slight delay in moving it to the dump yard was leading to much stink.
Having seen vegetable waste to gas plant run by the Vijayawada Municipal
Corporation for a few months some years ago, the North Zone
Commissioner decided to set one such unit here. The Khadi & Village
Industries Commission was given the task of constructing a gas plant
involving an expenditure of Rs.4.3 lakh with vegetable waste as the
primary source. A crushing plant fabricated from Coimbatore was brought
here and it has been up and functioning well.
The gas thus
generated is currently being given free to an orphanage right opposite
the plant where about 70 children are staying with the maintenance cost
coming to about Rs. 3,000 a month including electricity and labour
charges for working about two hours a day.
Huge savings
The
gas generated is equal to 10 cylinders a month, which means the
orphanage, is spending that much less on LPG cylinders. And this was
also leading to 500 kg less of garbage being transported which means
savings for the GHMC to the tune of Rs. 3.5 lakh a year, points put Mr.
Harikrishna
“Even the vegetable residue coming out after the gas
is generated can be a good source of manure although we are releasing it
into an existing drain,” he explains.