Surat Professor Turns Kitchen Waste into Cooking Gas, Saves Rs.2,000 Every Month

SURAT: While Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) spends over ₹200 crore annually to manage nearly 4,000 metric tonnes of daily waste, a professor in the city has demonstrated how kitchen leftovers can...

The Piplod-based environmentalist and his wife, Yashika Rotliwala, installed a rooftop biogas plant in 2018. The innovation has prevented more than six tonnes of wet waste from reaching dumping grounds, offering a decentralised alternative to the waste-management challenges faced by the city.

In recognition of their initiative, the couple received the second-place state-level Climate Change 2026-27 award from Gujarat’s Climate Change Department, along with a cash prize of ₹75,000. The award was presented at a ceremony in Gandhinagar.

The plant processes vegetable peels, fruit scraps and leftover food. A crusher grinds the waste before it enters the digestion tank, where microorganisms break down the organic matter and generate biogas.

Explaining the process, Rotliwala said he initially used 500 litres of water and 500 kg of cow dung to develop the bacteria required for gas production. Once the system was established, it needed only 1.5 to 2 kg of kitchen waste mixed with warm water daily.