Gujarat plans to mint money from waste

AHMEDABAD: The 1,200 tonnes of wastes produced in Ahmedabad per day may soon stink of money if the Gujarat government has its way. Following in the footsteps of the corporate sector, the state government is planning to hop on to the bandwagon of clean development mechanism (CDM) or carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol agreement.

The state’s department of forest and environment is working on a project to tap the methane produced from organic solid wastes at two upcoming solid waste disposal sites in Ahmedabad. Carbon credits can be earned based on the amount
of methane tapped and converted to power.

Under the Kyoto Protocol agreement, this carbon credit can be sold in the international market as carbon emission reductions (CERs) to generate additional revenue.

“We have identified the scientific land filling sites for the project on which we are now working with our consultants Ernst & Young to conclude the total carbon credit which can be produced,” JK Vyas, director, environment, forest and environment department, government of Gujarat, told ET on the sidelines of a CII seminar on CDM.

Though the officials refused to give potential of the carbon credit which can be earned, a similar project of solid waste treatment project in Chandigarh is projected to yield an average of 40,308 CERs from a solid waste of 300 tonnes a day.

Considering this, CERs produced from AMC and AUDA together could at least be over 1 lakh CERs. Based on the average price of one CER, the total revenue generated could be in the range of Rs 4.5 crore to Rs 5 crore annually and about Rs 50 crore over a period of ten years.