Western Railway sets up biogas plant at Mumbai Central station

The Western Railway (WR) has installed a biogas plant at Mumbai Central station that will convert organic waste into gas, which will then be used for cooking, a senior official has said. It is the first of its kind exercise by the Western Railway, the official said.

“It is a matter of pride that we have set up a solid waste disposal and management system (biogas) at Mumbai Central outside the Coach Care Centre as part of out environmental initiative,” he said yesterday.

The plant has the capacity to handle 500 kg of waste or organic food and can generate gas equivalent to a regular-size cylinder. It has been built at a cost of approximately ₹50 lakh, the official added.

“To run the plant, we are collecting waste from trains at the Mumbai Central station and coaching depot along with the base kitchen at Mumbai Central,” he said.

Chief spokesperson of the Western Railway Ravinder Bhakar said, “If the plant is operated at its maximum capacity, it can produce gas of equivalent quantity of an LPG cylinder every day. But due to the low quantity of waste being generated at present, the plant can generate just over 1/4 of an LPG cylinder.”

The biogas plant will not only help in producing environment-friendly gas for cooking purposes, but will also help in garbage-handling system, he said.

The waste collected from the allocated points will be segregated into biodegradable waste, such as unused food, vegetable waste, cattle dung, rotten fruits, fruit peels, etc. and non-biodegradable material like plastic bottles, polythene bags, paper, wooden parts, egg shells, etc.

The organic waste is then easily used as per the norms prescribed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to create biogas, Bhakar said.

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