Cost-effective biodigester to cut food waste

Coonoor Municipality plans to replicate it in all households in the town

The Coonoor Municipality has come up with cost-effective biodigesters, which they hope can be replicated in all households in the town.

Speaking to The Hindu , J. Raghunathan, Municipal Health Officer and Commissioner (in-charge), Coonoor Municipality, who has been experimenting for the last ten months on containment units which are best suited for the process, said that the municipality has begun to process degradable food, fruit and vegetable waste which gets discarded from the hospital at biodigesters set up at almost no cost.

“All people require is a container, which in our case is an old, damaged plastic water storage tank which is used to containerise the waste,” said Mr. Raghunathan.

Every day, the food waste generated at the Coonoor Government Hospital is collected and dumped into the plastic water storage tanks, which are perforated at the bottom to allow water to seep out. “The only maintenance that is required is to poke it with a stick once a week to aerate the mixture,” said Mr.Raghunathan.

Mr. Raghunathan said that as the temperature rises inside the closed storage tank, microbes become active and begin breaking down the waste. “Not only is the waste not an eyesore, but the soil surrounding the containment unit also becomes extremely nutritious, allowing for plants to thrive, while animals also cannot enter the tank and are not at risk,” he added.

The biodigesters can handle around ten kg. of waste each day, and the municipality hopes that more residents can gain some inspiration from the model and set up similar units in their own homes.

Following the tremendous success of the experimental biodigesters, Mr. Raghunathan has designed smaller biodigesters made from plastic PVC pipes, about a foot in diameter and five feet in length, which are to be installed in heavily crowded settlements of Ambedkar Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Indira Nagar in Coonoor.

“The directorate of municipal administration has released funds for us to purchase around 600 of the pipes, which will be set up shortly. The smaller biodigesters work under a similar principle, and will hopefully solve the waste management problem in many parts of the town, where door-to-door collection is not possible,” said Mr. Raghunathan.