Moving away from the standard approach of landfills,
Loyola campus has created a sustainable waste management program that will address various forms of waste through an integrated transformation cycle, resulting in usable energy – Cooking gas and chemical free food.
In stage 1, a state-of-the-art biogas plant has been constructed, which will process all the food scraps in a hygienic and environmental friendly way. The produced gas will be used as cooking gas in the kitchen. The slurry output from the biogas plant will be combined with dry leaves and garden scraps resulting in a high-quality manure through composting. This compost will be used by farmers who are guided on the adoption of organic farming versus a chemical approach. Farm-fresh healthy produce from these non-chemical fields will come back to the campus creating a closed loop cycle of biodegradable waste.
- 600+ tons of Biodegradable waste will be diverted from landfills, reducing the burden on the city corporation
- 72,000 kgs of Green house gases will be prevented from entering the atmosphere including 28,800 kgs of methane (a Green house gas 20 times worse than co2 in terms of contributing to global warming)
- 720+ LPG cylinders will be replaced by Biogas resulting in a cost saving to the hostel kitchen
- 100+ tons of high quality manure will be produced and provided to marginal farmers helping them pivot from the clutches of chemical farming and adopt sustainable farming systems
In stage 2, other elements of waste like plastics, paper, metals, glass, etc., will be segregated and collected centrally across the campus, leading to a path of Zero waste.
Loyola College Society Commissioned Carbon Loops, a startup incubated at
Loyola Inclusive Innovation Impact Centre (L3iC) in
Loyola Campus, to design and set up the bio-gas plant. Loyola College, LIBA, LiCET and Loyola College Education in the campus are the partner institutions. ERI provided technical oversight and
C.K.Prahalad Centre for Emerging India facilitated the entire process.
The biogas plant was inaugurated on
2nd October, 2017 by
Dr. R. Seetharaman,
CEO,
DOHA BANK,
QATAR, F
r. A.M. Francis Jayapathy S.J.,
Rector, blessed the bio-gas plant, the presence of other dignitaries.
Fr. Thomas Amirtham S.J.,
Treasurer of LCS, thanked the chief guest, dignitaries and the representatives of the institutions.