What ensues when two former colleagues meet over lunch after many years? A lot of chatter, some old office stories, and, of course, a lot of wasted food at the end. When Ravi Ayyangar and Satish Patel caught up over a meal, an idea to address the menace of food waste germinated.
After three decades in finance and project management, both in India and abroad, Ayyangar returned to India around 2014, intending to start something on his own. Patel, a scientist with experience in the research, design and development of effluent treatment plants in India and abroad, suggested that Ayyangar should focus on solid waste management. This was even before the government of India came out with the Solid Waste Management Rules in 2016.
After working on a product prototype and R&D, Ayyangar, along with Srikant Sitaraman and Bharath V, started Avris Environment Technologies LLP in 2018 to focus on the design and development of food waste treatment plants for industries and domestic usage.
“Over 40 per cent of the total solid waste is food waste, which is recyclable but often ends up in landfills. So, we decided to focus on addressing this problem,” says Ayyangar, Director, Avris.
Avris developed a portable food-waste treatment system called ‘Chugg’, which breaks down the waste at source into two by-products: biogas and slurry. Chugg runs without electricity and there is no carbon emission either.
How does it chugg waste?
The Chugg food waste processing system uses a rectangular fibreglass tank fitted with a rubber balloon on top. As a first step, a crusher turns the food waste into liquid form, which then collects in a barrel and is transferred to the main digester through an inlet pump.
Before the first use, the digester (fibreglass tank) is filled with cow dung and a patented additive and left closed with a lid to allow the bacteria to settle into an anaerobic condition. Later, when food waste is poured in, the bacteria begin to digest it anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen). While the biogas collects in the balloon, the slurry (treated water) collects in a barrel.
Ayyangar says the biogas can be used in homes, thereby reducing dependence on LPG, while the nutrient-rich slurry serves as manure for plants.
Chugg comes in two variants: Chugg75, which can process 75 kg of food waste and generate 2-3 kg of LPG-equivalent biogas per day; and Chugg35, which digests 35 kg to generate 1.5-2 kg biogas per day.
Growth plans
Avris’s waste treatment plant has been installed by sanitaryware brand Roca, non-profit organisation Worth Trust, the Indian army at the Dakshin Bharat Area in Chennai, and a few residential communities and Amma Canteens in the city.
“All bulk waste generators like hotels, restaurants, and large apartment blocks are our potential target,” Ayyangar says.
Avris’s food waste treatment plant has also been installed in places like Havelock Island in Andaman and Nicobar.
Bharath V, Director, Avris Environment Technologies LLP, says the company is now focussing on ecologically sensitive and tourist areas such as Goa, Ooty and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, and hilly regions in northern India such as Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.
“We are also appointing sales and installation partners across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh,” he added
The company is looking for partners overseas in countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, where food waste as a percentage of solid waste is as high as 70 per cent.