This market is the largest in the Secunderabad Cantonment area according to the report published in The News 18 and has approximately 150 vegetable vendors with their respective stalls selling tons of kgs of vegetables. Hence, the numbers are sufficient to tell how populous the market could be leading to a good quantity of waste generation. This initiative has not only helped the poor vendors light up the stalls but have made them cautious about the environment and how things can be converted into something productive. The market which earlier used to pay Rs 3 to 3.5 lakhs a month on the electricity charges has now come down to almost half. 

People in the market are supportive and have been contributing generously to this project. If the market is not able to generate the required amount of waste any day, people from nearby markets and local residents come with their household wastes. They consider this as a collective responsibility.

Not just this, the same waste is used to generate biogas which is an eco-friendly and economic substitute to the LPG cooking gas in the market making it the first-ever initiative taken by any vegetable market in Telangana told Lokni Srinivas, Bowenpally Selection Grade Secretary to The Indian Express.

Though there have been many biomethanation plants set up in India but this market’s set up is the largest of all which is catering needs of almost the entire market that is also in high capacity. “The research at CSIR-IICT began in 2006 to find ways to produce biogas from vegetable, fruit and food waste. By 2011, we had developed a patented-technology that was tested on a small scale at various farms and kitchens across India. We then re-engineered the method to make it more efficient so that it could handle the higher capacity of waste and eventually produce more energy.” says Dr Gangagni in an interview with The Better India.

How does it work? 

The process is known as Biomethanation which illustrates a process by which organic material is microbiologically converted under anaerobic conditions to biogas. Three main physiological groups of microorganisms are involved: fermenting bacteria, organic acid oxidizing bacteria, and methanogenic archaea.

The process carries on with tonnes of vegetable waste being put on conveyor belts that carry it to shredders. The shredded waste is then converted into a slurry and is put into large containers or pits to start the process of anaerobic digestion. Organic waste is eventually converted into biofuel, which has two major components, methane and carbon dioxide. 

The fuel is then put into ‘100 percent biogas generators’ that converts the fuel into electricity and reach the market’s electricity bulbs.

The initiative taken by Hyderabad’s vegetable market has given way to the New Atma Nirbhar Bharat and was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his podcast’s  “Mann Ki Baat” on January 31st – the reason for its indigenous nature, both the idea and the technology that went into it. “It was nice to learn about how a local sabzi mandi in Hyderabad’s Bowenpally is functioning responsibly. We have observed that in sabzi mandis, due to multiple reasons, vegetables rot spreading unhygienic conditions. However, Bowenpally Mandi decided that the leftover vegetables will not be allowed to rot. Traders at the mandi decided to produce electricity out of it,” PM Modi said in his speech. He even called this move “Waste to Wealth” encouraging more people to join in such initiatives. 

Something of which even visuals bring cringe to us, the garbage and other wastes coming from the vegetable markets, this market has changed the entire perception. Who thought that something which is considered dirty could light up a market and add up to the progress of development? Well, Efforts For Good , highly appreciate the move and promises to bring our readers more of such similar stories that will bring a smile to their face.