Waste helps fuel Amma Canteen

For the residents of Venus Pearls Apartments in Perambur, garbage is precious, every bit being part of an endeavour to recycle it and help save the environment. The garbage collected from here is then taken to Amma Unavagam near the Perambur Carriage Works Station where it is processed and converted to methane which is then used for cooking. “We have around 32 flats. The corporation officials approached our apartment president and briefed us about the advantages of source segregation. Every house here has two bins to segregate wet and dry waste and the collected waste from the apartments is placed in big blue and green bins. 

The conservancy workers then collect it and it is later processed,” said a resident. This is part of the biomethanation project initiated by the Chennai Corporation almost two years ago and which saw the participation also of some hotels, apartment complexes and markets.  It has shown the Corporation how the process of making ‘gas from food waste’ can be easily carried out. S. Natarajan, executive engineer with the Chennai Corporation, along with regional deputy commissioner (central) assistant engineer, designed and implemented the composting plant next to Amma Unavagam. 

The leftover food and vegetable shavings,  brought to the plant, are passed through a digestive sludge. A few weeks later, the slush turns into manure, which is used as fuel for the stoves. “We receive around 500 kg of kitchen waste and we mix it in water on a 1:1 ratio. It is then processed to generate more than 20 kg of methane. In one day, the compost plant produces methane which is equivalent to one and a half cylinders of LPG, thereby saving residents money. 

We end up saving Rs 60,000 every month,” says Natarajan. The success of this project could result in similar facilities being set up in other Amma canteens too.