Bhubaneswar CBG plant to reduce city's waste load

Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has decided to operate a compressed biogas (CBG) plant at Nayapalli, aiming at reducing waste load sharply at the city’s Temporary Transfer Station (TTS) and micro composting centres.

While the TTS handles around 470 tonnes of waste daily and processes it through different methods, micro composting centres convert garbage into manure. Reducing the load at TTS means there will be zero exposed waste that often leads to stink and filth in nearby localities, the BMC officials said.

“The project, being developed in collaboration with Oil India Limited, is part of a broader push to build sustainable waste-to-energy infrastructure in urban centres. The facility will significantly improve waste handling in the city and drastically reduce load at TTS,” said an official.

The BMC officials added the plant, mooted in 2024, is coming up on around 10 acres of land at Nayapalli. “The project aims to process 300 tonnes of waste per day, and the plant is expected to produce about 13 tonnes of biogas per day, along with organic manure and refuse-derived fuel,” another BMC official said.

The CBG project’s civil works, engineering, procurement and statutory approvals are under way.

Additional commissioner of BMC, Kailash Chandra Dash, said the CBG facility will support scientific processing of municipal waste, reduce landfill burden, cut greenhouse gas emissions and improve urban sanitation. “It will also generate employment, with around 60 direct jobs in plant operations, maintenance and administration, besides indirect opportunities in waste collection, segregation, transportation and support services,” the senior BMC official said.

The city currently generates around 800 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, including both wet and dry. Of this, the micro composting centres process about 100 tonnes of wet waste daily, while Material Recovery Facilities (MrFs) handle around 120 tonnes of dry waste.

The BMC has also set up semi-mechanised MrFs with a capacity of 150 tonnes, and officials said their throughput can nearly double with additional shift operations.

In another initiative, the BMC is set to make biomass briquettes using green waste to convert it into clean fuel. A selected private agency will install, operate and maintain the facility, and will pay BMC a monthly royalty of Rs 75,000 for a period of 10 years.