In 2005, when I was planning Our Native Village, my eco-resort just outside Bengaluru, one of the self-imposed conditions related to waste – we declared that we will have no waste, meaning all our waste will be processed and used within the resort premises. As part of this resolve, we had a waste-to-energy plant which, in those days, was pioneering.
Some of our food waste, animal waste, and waste from the oil seed industry used to be digested in an underground fixed dome bio-gas plant. All the methane we produced was stored in six bio-gas ‘balloons’ - huge 15 cubic meter plastic bags. All the gas collected in these bags was then used by the kitchen when it needed it, but importantly it was used as fuel to run a 15 KVA electricity generator – a diesel generator whose carburettor was modified to now burn methane instead of diesel. The electricity that was generated was then stored in a bank of 210 batteries, and my resort was connected to this battery bank. The battery bank also received electricity from my array of solar panels and a windmill. The strategy was that we can depend on nature (solar and wind) for electricity – but in case both forces take a break, I have my bio-gas plant, which generated electricity from waste.
This was such a satisfying effort, but I hasten to add that we had all sorts of problems with many aspects. Most importantly, I was a passionate enthusiast who was trying to solve problems by ‘engineering’ our own solutions. Soon, as was expected, the experiment had to be closed, but the learning was invaluable. In the last decade, many advancements have taken place in waste-to-energy, making the efforts we put in look so naïve!
The concept of waste-to-energy is important in urban cities, because most waste that is generated finds its way into land and water bodies without proper treatment, causing severe water and air pollution. The environmental benefits of waste-to-energy, as an alternative to disposing of waste in landfills, are overwhelming. Waste-to-energy generates clean energy reducing dependence on fossil fuels, the burning of which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), there is a potential of about 1,460 MW from municipal solid waste and 226 MW from sewage. MNRE says there is a potential to recover 1,300 MW of power from industrial wastes, which is projected to increase to 2,000 MW by 2017. Under the Swachch Bharat Mission, six waste-to-energy plants with installed capacity of about 74 MW will be commissioned in Ghazipur (12 MW), Narela-Bawana in New Delhi (24 MW), Jabalpur (11MW), Hyderabad (11MW), Nalgonda in Telangana (12.6MW), and Chennai (3 MW).The world's largest waste-to-energy power plant is coming up in Shenzen, China, expected to deal with one third of the waste generated by the city's 20 million inhabitants. And then there is the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant, the largest environmental initiative in Denmark, an exemplary model of waste-to-energy as well as an architectural landmark in Copenhagen.
All this is important for Bengaluru given the way it is expanding, and therefore the amount of waste it is generating. Its population has increased from 7.86 lakhs in 1951 to 85 lakhs in 2011, and the area under its municipal authority has increased from under 200 km2 in 1950 to 800 km2 today. The growth in living space and consequent infrastructure facilities such as water, roads, sanitation and environment quality are not keeping pace with population growth. Waste-to-energy projects help alleviate the problems that most cities in the world face, but the question is, do the governments in place have the wisdom to dive into this pile of waste and come out smiling?
