Kerala Tips

A Kerala based NGO, Biotech won the Ashden award for food security (30,000 british pounds). Check the award page for more details on Biotech work. The complete biotech report can be downloaded here(PDF).

BIOTECH is an NGO based in Kerala, South India, which has developed biogas digesters for managing food waste and other organic waste in 12,000 households, 220 institutions and 19 municipal sites. The digesters are prefabricated from ferro-cement and gas collectors made from Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) so that they can be installed quickly and easily on site…

BIOTECH has succeeded in tackling the problem of the dumping of food waste in the streets of Kerala through the installation of biogas plants that use the food waste to produce gas for cooking and, in some cases, electricity for lighting; the residue serves as a fertiliser. To date BIOTECH has built and installed an impressive 12,000 domestic plants (160 of which also use human waste from latrines to avoid contamination of ground water), 220 institutional plants and 17 municipal plants that use waste from markets to power generators. The plants also replace the equivalent of about 3.7 tonnes/day of LPG and diesel which in turn results in the saving of about 3,700 tonnes/year of CO2, with further savings from the reduction in methane production as a result of the uncontrolled decomposition of waste, and from the transport of LPG.

Biotech is based in Trivandrum. BIOTECH was founded as an NGO in 1994 by Mr A Saji Das. It currently employs 25 full-time staff, supported by 200 volunteers. In addition to the biogas work, BIOTECH supplies improved smokeless ovens and stoves, solar lanterns and home lighting systems.

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