If all goes well, the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) in the city will soon look clean and green. The state government has come up with a proposal to treat food waste generated on the hospital premises using biogas plants and has allotted funds for setting up seven biogas plants.
At a time when increasing food waste is posing a major environmental concern, the state government has entrusted Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC), a Palakkad-based government agency, with the task of dealing with the issue.
As per the agreement, IRTC will carry out the entire task of collecting and disposing the waste. The agency has agreed to operate and maintain the biogas plants for five years.
The government has sanctioned Rs 3.5 crore for setting up the plants, which will use modern technology in treating the food waste collected.
According to officials, the decision to install biogas plants was taken in view of the large number of people coming to the hospital on a daily basis. The hospital, which is visited by more than 3,000 people a day, generates a huge amount of food waste.
With the setting up of the biogas plants, the food waste, as and when it is generated, will be fed into the biogas plants for production of methane gas. The gas formed will be routed to the stoves in the canteen kitchen through pipes.
“Instead of allowing the food waste to pile up and rot on the premises till the City Corporation vehicles arrive to clear it, we have decided to install biogas plants, which generate methane that can be used as cooking gas and for several other purposes. Apart from cooking, the incinerator in the hospital that is now fuelled by diesel will be made to operate using biogas once the plants start functioning,’’ said an official.
‘’Another issue that could be solved with the setting up of the biogas plants is the non-availability of hot water for the patients in SAT Hospital which had become a serious problem over the past several years,’’ said the project manager, Suresh Kumar.
The facility will certainly be a boon for the hospital authorities in keeping the hospital premises clean and generating the required gas for daily use of the entire MCH, he said.
“We will not only be saving money spent every day on disposal of waste, but also generating cooking gas. With the facility, we could save a good amount every month,” said an official. “More than savings, it is also an environment-friendly approach to tackle food waste,” he said.
The plants will be installed near SAT Hospital, Superspeciality block, in all three hostels and on the college premises. If things go as planned, the facility will be functional in a few months’ time.
