With a capacity to process three tonnes of waste materials daily, the plant, established under the company's health, safety and environment (HSE) department, is claimed as the biggest bio-gas unit in the district and has started full operation from Sunday, the company sources said.
The plant was on a trial run for the past three months and was found to be functioning effectively.
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"Waste management is a statutory requirement of the company as stipulated by the state pollution control board and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). As we are ISO-14001 certified company, waste management and its utilization is very much essential to keep the surroundings neat and clean," said a company official.
"The company is striving to make its refinery a zero waste plant. We have set up an eco-friendly system for treatment of waste by decentralisation. This will generate cooking gas which will benefit the local people," said the chief operating officer (COO) and president of the company, Mukesh Kumar.
As per the Waste Management Study (WMS), around 640 kg/day (along with 3600 lit/day rice slurry) of kitchen waste is generated from the centralised kitchen of the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme sponsored by the company. The waste materials are likely to increase many folds over next few years.
The wastes from the households living in the plant colony are also collected for processing. TERI's Enhanced Acidification and Machination will process the organic solid waste with ZERO waste technology, patented by it. The organic waste is not only scientifically disposed off, but also it is converted into fuel energy, sources said.
Further, the waste residue is used as manure to beautify the landscape gardens within the premises of the alumina refinery plant. The plant can generate 75 cubic meter of high quality cooking gas daily. The gas will be used in the preparation of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) to provide quality and hygienic food to around 18,000 students in Lanjigarh block.