India SATAT compost and compressed biogas shortfalls; Indore bio-CNG plant
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
India promotes compressed biogas plants and market support for city compost. Reports describe a private bio-CNG plant in Indore that pays the municipality, and a fall in city compost sales despite a per-tonne subsidy.
2019-20 to 2020-21, as reported by Citizen Matters.
Status As of October 2026: the sources reviewed describe the 2022 Indore plant arrangement and 2019-21 compost sales; no later outcome or response from the parties is on record.
- Indore Municipal Corporation — 2.52 crore rupees a year from the operator and 50% of the gas. Free Press Journal
- Private operator of the Indore plant — Segregated waste supply under a 20-year contract; sells bio-CNG.
- City compost producers — Sales fell from 215,726 t to 99,366 t between 2019-20 and 2020-21. Citizen Matters
What happened
In 2022 the Free Press Journal reported on a bio-CNG plant built in Indore from segregated municipal organic waste. The report said the private operator invested 150 crore rupees, pays the municipality 2.52 crore rupees a year, and that 50% of the gas goes to the municipality. Under a 20-year contract the municipality supplies segregated waste at about 90% purity and buys half of the gas at 5 rupees below the market price, according to an account without a URL on record. The plant was reported to process 543 tonnes of segregated wet waste a day at 95% purity and to sell bio-CNG at 56 rupees per kilogram.
Municipalities elsewhere in India pay plant operators per tonne. Down To Earth reported payments of 225 rupees per tonne at Nagpur, 300 at Pune and 445 at Deonar, in an article on the cost of closing the Deonar landfill.
Citizen Matters reported that sales of city compost fell from 215,726 tonnes in 2019-20 to 99,366 tonnes in 2020-21, and that 33.4% of the available support had been paid. India provides market-development assistance of 1,500 rupees per tonne of city compost.
Official reporting cited in the record puts source segregation at 89% of wards and waste processing at 80%. The record also states that at the Ghazipur landfill in Delhi only 7% of legacy waste had been processed by bio-mining by 2022. The sources for these two items are not named in the record.
- 2019-20City compost sales: 215,726 tonnes (Citizen Matters)
- 2020-21City compost sales: 99,366 tonnes (Citizen Matters)
- 2022Free Press Journal reports the Indore bio-CNG plant, the 2.52 crore rupee annual payment to the municipality and 150 crore rupees of investment
How it looked
Shown
- Official reporting of source segregation in 89% of wards and 80% of waste processedGovernment of India, as cited in the record
- Ribbon-cutting launches of waste-processing plantsOfficials, as characterised in the record
Recorded
- City compost sales fell from 215,726 t (2019-20) to 99,366 t (2020-21); 33.4% of the support was paid.
- Municipalities pay 225 rupees per tonne (Nagpur), 300 (Pune) and 445 (Deonar).
- In Indore the operator pays the municipality 2.52 crore rupees a year and the municipality takes 50% of the gas; investment 150 crore rupees.
- At Ghazipur landfill, Delhi, 7% of legacy waste had been bio-mined by 2022 (source not named in the record).
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that 132 of a target of 5,000 compressed biogas plants had been commissioned under SATAT, producing 920 tonnes a day (Energetica India, January 2026).
- None on record The sources reviewed do not give the subsidy share of revenue for Indian compressed biogas or compost plants.
- None on record The sources for the 89% segregation and 80% processing figures, and for the Ghazipur 7% figure, are not named in the record.
Did the harm stop?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
In Indore the private operator pays the municipality; elsewhere municipalities pay operators per tonne (225 to 445 rupees).
Sources
Press and investigations
- Converting kitchen waste to compostCitizen Matters ·
- Cost of closing DeonarDown To Earth ·
- Indore mega plant established to produce bio-CNG from domestic wasteFree Press Journal · 2022