Middle East conflict: Waste collected from 5k homes fuels Bengaluru eatery amid LPG crunch

BENGALURU: Household waste from nearly 5,000 homes in the city is now helping fuel a restaurant here, even as Karnataka grapples with an acute shortage of LPG in the wake of the West Asia turmoil.As darshinis and eateries across the state shut down or trim their menus due to the gas cylinder crunch, one eatery in Koramangala — an area with one of the country's highest restaurant densities — continues to operate unaffected, thanks primarily to biogas generated from domestic waste. Empire Restaurant in the 5th Block is the biggest beneficiary of Koramangala's biogas plant — a joint initiative by BBSWML, Saahas, and Carbon Masters.

"We never thought household waste could come to our rescue," said a senior official of Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). Among the eatery chain's 60 outlets, this is the only one currently insulated from the fuel shortage. For nearly four years now, around 80% of the restaurant's kitchen operations have been powered by biogas, produced mainly from household waste. Shakir Haq, the CEO of the eatery chain, said early adoption of biogas has proved invaluable.

"Since it is a direct supply line, we are not facing the disruptions that we are seeing with LPG cylinders. In fact, looking at the current situation, I regret not having pushed this model across more outlets," he added. "We are now looking at a dual-fuel system, so we are not completely dependent on LPG. We will bulk-cook at the Koramangala outlet and see if we can keep the chain running, even with 10% of the menu," Haq further said. Explaining the scale of operations at the biogas plant, Carbon Masters co-founder and CEO Som Narayan said the plant converts wet waste into cooking fuel in a simple but effective process. "Around 25-30 kg of biogas can be produced by processing one tonne of waste. Currently, Empire Koramangala consumes about 150kg of biogas daily," he said. They say every cloud has a silver lining. The LPG crisis has drawn renewed attention to Bengaluru's biogas plants, which have long remained low on the civic agency's priority list. According to BSWML, the city currently has 12 biogas plants with a daily production capacity of five tonnes, though only six of those are operational — their output used primarily to power streetlights.