Carbon Masters India Pvt Ltd (CMIPL), a climate-tech venture pioneering circular economy solutions, has collaborated with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Saatarem Alternative Fuel and Energy Pvt. Ltd. (SAAFE), to build Bengaluru’s first waste-to-value park to reduce landfill load.
Bengaluru’s Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. D.K. Shivakumar, led the foundation stone laying ceremony at the Kannahalli Municipal Waste Plant, Bengaluru West, on Monday, 1st December.
The BBMP-owned facility currently processes around 350 tonnes per day (TPD) of source-segregated waste into compost, with an installed capacity of 1,000 TPD. Under a public–private partnership model, BBMP and its concessionaire Saatarem Alternative Fuel and Energy Pvt. Ltd. (SAAFE) are partnering with Carbon Masters India Pvt. Ltd. and other technology partners to transform the site into a first-of-its-kind integrated waste-to-value park in India.
When fully developed, the project is expected to process approximately 900 TPD of source-separated organic waste, producing around 30 TPD of Carbonlites® biomethane (compressed biogas) and 750 TPD of organic fertiliser. In the first phase, a biomethane (CBG) plant will process 300 TPD of organic waste to produce 10 TPD of biomethane and 250 TPD of organic fertiliser.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said: “Bengaluru has been challenged by the rapid growth of both our population and our waste. With this project at Kannahalli, we are demonstrating that waste is not a liability but a resource. By converting our city’s waste into clean fuel, power and organic fertiliser, we will reduce the pressure on landfills, cut pollution and create new green jobs. This can become a model for cities across Karnataka and India ”
“SAAFE has been committed to finding sustainable solutions for Bengaluru’s waste,” said Abhishek Gowda, spokesperson for Saatarem Alternative Fuel and Energy Pvt. Ltd. (SAAFE). “This partnership allows us to scale up from composting alone to a truly integrated waste-to-value model that benefits the city, the environment and local communities.”
“By bringing together biomethane, organic fertiliser, power generation and RDF on a single site, Kannahalli will be India’s first-of-its-kind circular economy waste-to-value park, a model that can be replicated across every urban centre,” said Som Narayan, Co-Founder, Carbon Masters. “We want to demonstrate that a problematic municipal ‘waste stream’ can be transformed into multiple value-added products that save both costs and carbon emissions.”
To create a fully integrated waste-to-value park, two additional technology partners are joining the consortium. Professor Dasappa, from the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, will lead efforts to convert rejected waste fractions into 1 MW of renewable electricity for plant consumption and export to the grid, and to explore gasification technology to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) into green hydrogen. Separately, Mr. Shekar Prabhakar, CEO of Hasiruda Innovations, will develop a new Material Recovery Facility (MRF) to process 100 TPD of dry waste, recovering recyclables and producing refuse-derived fuel (RDF).
The Kannahalli project supports the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, by promoting segregation at source, resource recovery and scientific disposal. It is expected to significantly reduce landfill-bound waste, lower greenhouse gas emissions and provide farmers with high-quality organic fertiliser to improve soil health.
