Waste-to-Energy Under Swachh Bharat: Prayagraj to Gwalior

Organic waste is being read as a resource rather than a burden, and a backgrounder issued on 27 September 2026 sets out four sites where that shift is already paying. All four sit under the waste-to-energy work of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0; the parent mission itself was launched in October 2014 with scientific handling of municipal solid waste as a core aim. Biogas is made by anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, and the slurry left behind is rich in nitrogen, so one plant yields both a cooking fuel and an organic fertiliser.

Prayagraj: one plant, four feedstocks

The bio-CNG facility at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh takes in 343 tonnes of organic waste a day and turns out about 21 tonnes of bio-CNG. Its multi-feedstock design accepts wet waste, paddy straw, cattle dung and poultry litter, which gives crop residue a use and eases the pressure to burn stubble. Run on a public-private partnership, it draws bulk waste from hotels, restaurants and apartment blocks; the daily wet-waste supply has climbed from seven to eight tonnes at the start to around 125 tonnes. The gas is sold under the Compressed Bio-Gas and City Gas Distribution synchronisation scheme and currently moves city transport. The plant also makes 28 tonnes of compost a day for nearby farmers, and is expected to carry piped gas to about 45,000 households while cutting roughly 57,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.

Gwalior: a cowshed that became a power plant

Adarsh Gaushala at Laltipara is Gwalior's largest cowshed and home to more than 10,000 cattle. In October 2024 it opened a 100 tonnes-per-day compressed bio-gas plant, which made it the country's first modern, self-sufficient gaushala built around such a facility. Spread over 5 acres and costing 31 crore rupees, it was built with Indian Oil Corporation and is also Madhya Pradesh's first CBG plant designed to take vegetable and fruit waste from markets and homes. Every day it converts 100 tonnes of dung into two tonnes of compressed biogas along with 10 to 15 tonnes of dry bio-manure.

Hyderabad and Gandhinagar

At the Bowenpally Vegetable Market in Hyderabad, roughly 10 tonnes of vegetable and fruit waste that once went to landfill is now processed on site. The plant generates about 400 to 500 units of electricity and 30 kg of biofuel a day, running the market's streetlights, stalls, administrative building and water supply, while the biofuel feeds its commercial kitchen. The electricity bill has fallen by roughly half from about three lakh rupees a month, and five more such plants have been funded at Gudimalkapur, Gaddiannaram, Erragadda, Alwal and Saroornagar. Women of the market sort waste, run machinery and handle administration there.

At the Shrimati Manekba Vinay Vihar Educational Complex near Adalaj in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, the kitchen feeds more than 500 people a day, including about 250 hostel students and 15 staff families. Two biogas plants of the Vasumati Charitable Trust, together 90 cubic metres a day, run on dung from 222 cows plus kitchen waste and farm residue, and meet the whole cooking requirement that would otherwise need 30 LPG cylinders a month. Gujarat's Institutional Biogas Plant Scheme and the Gujarat Energy Development Agency backed the switch.