As part of our net-zero commitment, CGI has undertaken an initiative on waste management aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with Saahas, a non-profit organization that aims to innovate, incubate, and propagate waste management programs.
Food waste accounts for nearly 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste that goes into landfills decomposes and releases harmful gasses such as methane. To help address this, CGI and Saahas set up biogas plants in Bengaluru and Chennai. These biogas plants promote a circular economy and offset carbon by turning food waste into energy.
In Bengaluru, CGI helped establish a biogas plant with a capacity of processing 2.5 metric tons of food waste per day at Kasa Kendra, Koramangala. The segregated wet waste is supplied to the facility by the local municipality and later processed to generate biogas. This biogas is then provided to nearby restaurants.
In Chennai, CGI funded a 300 kilograms per day capacity biogas plant for a beneficiary who operates an ECO (Enhancing Community Opportunities) Kitchen that uses innovative technologies and processes to minimize the impact on the environment. Built on a no-profit and no-loss model, this ECO kitchen has a 30,000-meal production capacity and caters to the underprivileged.
We are extremely proud that this project has contributed to the UN Sustainability Development Goal 13 climate action by averting 647 MT (Metric Tonne) of food waste from landfills and generating 16 MT of LPG equivalent eco-friendly biogas since September 2020.
