Thiruvananthapuram: For the first lessons in zero-waste management, head to Government UPS, Poojappura, a school which has been making its students wash their hands at the foot of fruit-bearing trees. The school recently set up a biogas plant, and that completes the zero-waste cycle, according to headmaster J Mathunni. The slurry from the biogas unit will be used for growing pulses in the school’s backyard, which is about six cents. There are also plantains and trees here. “We wanted to send out the message of effective waste management. The children will get used to such a culture quite early in their life,” he says.
The biogas unit was contributed by CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST). The unit has the edge over many other biogas technologies – the gas is rich in methane. In other technologies, the gas contains less than 60% methane, while in this case, it has more than 70% methane, according to the project’s principal investigator V. B. Manilal.
Moreover, one can put lemon and onion peels in it, the scientist had told DC. The feedback will be used to fine-tune the product, says CSIR-NIIST director A. Ajayaghosh. “We have identified a couple of places where the units can be installed so that we would get feedbacks regarding the design. Later on, we can consider contributing more units to other areas, if a body like the corporation comes forward to bear its cost,” he said. In line with the school's policy of zero waste management, the unit produces a minimal amount of slurry.
