Upcycling Solutions for Ecological Conservation

India generates over 500 million tons of agricultural waste annually, as per a MNRE report. This agricultural waste has a huge potential to be utilised as biomass to power cooling solutions or improve farm yield in rural India.

Post-harvest losses are a major concern in rural hinterlands, given the inadequate cooling infrastructure at the farm gate. Presently, over 25-35 per cent of the cultivated food gets wasted in India and only 6 per cent of the food produced moves through the cold chain, indicating the need for sustainable cooling systems in farms.

Cold storage powered by DRE can be a potent solution here, more so by biomass, as it also tackles the problem of agri waste management. New Leaf Dynamics (NLD), a company developing sustainable refrigeration solutions, has a product called GreenCHILL technology which is a biomass-powered refrigeration unit which uses agricultural residue or industrial waste to power the unit, providing sustainable cooling solutions to the farmers for storing vegetables/flowers/milk etc. Through their product, NLD has been able to enhance the incomes of multiple farmers across India, especially in UP and Maharashtra.

Lalita Devi, a farmer from Saraipur, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, and a member of Khet Kisan Producer Company, started using GreenCHILL after facing food losses due to a lack of proper storage solutions. The Producer company comprises 30 women and produces pickles, jams, powder and chips from bananas, apart from selling the fruit.

Through the use of cold storage, Lalita Devi and the rest of the company members are able to preserve the produce better and are able to sell the produce as the market demand and price improves. Since the installation of GreenCHILL, the company has been able to generate 1 crore INR additional revenue in one year or so. Lalita Devi says, that as the technology uses biomass, it saves the cost of electricity as well as the installation of solar panels.

Agri waste is easily available around the farms, which makes it possible to use cold storage. Furthermore, given that no solar installation cost is involved, the cost of this technology is lower by at least 5 lacs or so, as compared to the solar variant. Other such innovations in utilising agri waste are to generate biochar for the farmers to use to improve yields and also help them earn carbon credits.

Takachar, is developing a technology which can transform large-scale biomass waste into bio-products such as biochar and biofuels for farmers to use to improve their yields. The machine which is small-scale and portable equipment upgrades forest residues and agricultural waste into a carbon-rich feedstock at the farm. Further, by buying this biochar, farmers can also earn an additional income through carbon credit generated through the use of biochar.

Technologies such as GreenCHILL and Takachar’s biochar-making machine, Takavator, are breakthrough innovations which can drive the usage of agri waste by improving farmers’ income and addressing ecological challenges in rural communities at the same time.

Written by: Divya Gaur is a social impact leader at The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), and is currently part of the 2024 cohort of the Women Climate Collective, a platform which supports emerging women leaders to lead climate action, towards a just, gender-inclusive climate transition.