# Biogas and biomethane and Waste and recycling

Wet organic waste, from city food waste to cattle dung and sugar-mill press mud, is the raw material for compressed biogas, so India's SATAT, GOBARdhan and blending mandate turn waste handling into a gas supply business; plant economics rest on clean, segregated feedstock and on selling the manure as well as the gas.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/links/biogas-and-biomethane-and-waste-and-recycling/

[Biogas and biomethane](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/biomethane/) (chemical) and [Waste and recycling](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/waste_recycling/) (industry): 4 relationships.

## How they are linked

### 1. Organic waste as feedstock

*Physical flow · Strong · Organic waste → biogas and biomethane*

Biogas is made by microbes digesting wet organic matter, so municipal food waste, sewage sludge, manure and crop and sugar residues are the feedstock, and landfills give off the same gas on their own.

- **550 t a day** organic municipal waste the Indore bio-CNG plant was built to process
- **17,000 kg a day** bio-CNG expected from that plant at full capacity
- **about 40 bcm** biomethane, mostly landfill gas, the IEA estimated could be made below local gas prices

A large plant can turn a city's daily wet waste into vehicle fuel: Indore's plant, opened in 2022, was designed to take 550 t a day. The link breaks when waste is not segregated at source, because mixed waste upsets digesters; Bengaluru's roughly 15 small plants from 2016 all closed, mainly on poor returns. The IEA counts municipal solid waste and wastewater among the sustainable feedstocks and sees landfill gas as the cheapest biomethane.

Sources: [The Wire Science](https://science.thewire.in/environment/indore-gobar-dhan-bio-cng-plant-waste-segregation-feasible/); [IEA](https://www.iea.org/reports/outlook-for-biogas-and-biomethane-prospects-for-organic-growth)

### 2. Revenue line for waste operators

*Physical flow · Medium · Biogas and biomethane → waste and recycling operators*

Two enterprise types in waste and recycling depend on biogas: landfill and hazardous-waste operators capture landfill gas (criticality 4 of 5), and waste-to-energy, compost and biogas operators sell compressed biogas (3 of 5).

- **2** enterprise types that depend on it
- **4 of 5** highest criticality, for landfill operators

For these operators gas is an output that turns a disposal cost into income, and landfill gas capture also cuts methane leaks. Dependence is highest where a site has gas engines or upgrading kit whose return relies on steady gas flow, and lowest at open dumps that simply vent it.

Enterprise types that depend on it:

- Engineered landfill and hazardous-waste (TSDF) operators: landfill gas (criticality 4 of 5)
- Waste-to-energy, compost and biogas operators: compressed biogas output (criticality 3 of 5)

Sources: [Material Insights](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/waste_recycling/materials/)

### 3. SATAT, GOBARdhan and blending mandate

*Policy · High in India · Government schemes → waste-to-CBG plants*

India runs its biogas push through its waste and sanitation programmes as much as its energy ones: SATAT offers buyers for compressed biogas, GOBARdhan registers plants under the sanitation department, and a blending obligation forces city gas firms to buy it.

- **133** CBG plants commissioned under SATAT by January 2026, against a 5,000 target
- **1% to 5%** CBG blending obligation in CNG and piped gas, FY2025-26 to FY2028-29
- **1,163 and 426** biogas and CBG plants registered on the GOBARdhan portal by September 2023

The 133 commissioned plants had a combined rated capacity of about 926 t a day in January 2026, with 83 more under construction, so the programme is still far short of its 2018 target. The blending obligation, voluntary until FY2024-25, became mandatory at 1% in FY2025-26 and steps to 3%, 4% and then 5% from FY2028-29, which gives plants a mandated buyer if they can secure waste.

Sources: [NewKerala (IANS)](https://www.newkerala.com/news/a/india-converting-waste-clean-energy-scale-hardeep-puri-679.htm); [Office of Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas](https://hardeepsinghpuri.com/single-media/government-announces-mandatory-blending-of-compressed-biogas-in-cng-transport-png-domestic-segments-of-cgd-sector); [All India Radio News](https://www.newsonair.gov.in/unified-registration-portal-for-gobardhan-introduced-to-streamline-registration-of-compressed-bio-gas-and-biogas-plants-nationwide)

### 4. Fermented organic manure

*Joint production · Medium · Digestion → gas plus organic manure*

What is left after digestion is a nutrient-rich slurry that can be sold as fermented organic manure, so a waste-to-gas plant also returns organic matter to farms.

- **100 t a day** compost expected from the Indore plant
- **₹1,500 per t** Market Development Assistance for fermented organic manure from GOBARdhan plants, 2023

Manure sales, backed by the Department of Fertilizers' market development assistance, add a second income line to gas sales. Small plants that cannot handle the slurry tend to discharge it into sewers, which loses this income and adds load to sewage treatment plants.

Sources: [The Wire Science](https://science.thewire.in/environment/indore-gobar-dhan-bio-cng-plant-waste-segregation-feasible/); [All India Radio News](https://www.newsonair.gov.in/unified-registration-portal-for-gobardhan-introduced-to-streamline-registration-of-compressed-bio-gas-and-biogas-plants-nationwide)

## For investors

### Key learnings

1. Feedstock security, not technology, is the main risk: plants need a long, contracted supply of segregated organic waste.
2. The blending obligation rising from 1% to 5% by FY2028-29 creates a mandated buyer, but delivery has lagged, with 133 plants commissioned against a 5,000 target.
3. Manure sales, supported at ₹1,500 per tonne in 2023, add a second revenue line, so offtake contracts for both gas and manure should be checked.

### What to track

- **CBG plants commissioned under SATAT**: Pace of real capacity additions versus announcements (Quarterly · Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, PIB)
- **CBG blending compliance by city gas distributors**: Whether the mandate is creating firm demand (Yearly · PNGRB, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas)
- **Municipal waste segregation and processing rates**: Quality and volume of feedstock available to plants (Yearly · Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban, MoHUA)

## For policymakers

### Key learnings

1. Waste policy and gas policy are one lever here: better source segregation in cities directly improves CBG plant output.
2. Three ministries touch the chain (petroleum, sanitation and fertilisers), so aligned rules on registration, offtake and manure support decide uptake.
3. Small plants without gas bottling or slurry handling have failed before, so support should favour viable scale and contracted waste supply.

### What to track

- **Plants registered and operating on the GOBARdhan portal**: Gap between registered and working capacity (Quarterly · Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation)
- **Fermented organic manure sold with Market Development Assistance**: Whether the manure route supports plant finances (Yearly · Department of Fertilizers)

## India

India is building a waste-based biogas industry by policy: 133 CBG plants were commissioned by January 2026 using farm residue, cattle dung, municipal waste and press mud, with a blending obligation rising to 5% by FY2028-29.

## Sources

1. [Waste and recycling: materials and inputs](https://www.materialinsights.org/industries/waste_recycling/materials/), Material Insights (2026)
2. [India converting waste to clean energy at scale: Hardeep Puri (India Energy Week 2026)](https://www.newkerala.com/news/a/india-converting-waste-clean-energy-scale-hardeep-puri-679.htm), NewKerala (IANS) (2026)
3. [Here's why the new Indore bio-CNG plant is likely to succeed though others like it haven't](https://science.thewire.in/environment/indore-gobar-dhan-bio-cng-plant-waste-segregation-feasible/), The Wire Science (2022)
4. [Outlook for biogas and biomethane: Prospects for organic growth](https://www.iea.org/reports/outlook-for-biogas-and-biomethane-prospects-for-organic-growth), IEA (2020)
5. [Government announces mandatory blending of compressed biogas in CNG (transport) and PNG (domestic) segments of CGD sector](https://hardeepsinghpuri.com/single-media/government-announces-mandatory-blending-of-compressed-biogas-in-cng-transport-png-domestic-segments-of-cgd-sector), Office of Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas (2023)
6. [Unified Registration Portal for GOBARdhan introduced to streamline registration of CBG and biogas plants nationwide](https://www.newsonair.gov.in/unified-registration-portal-for-gobardhan-introduced-to-streamline-registration-of-compressed-bio-gas-and-biogas-plants-nationwide), All India Radio News (2023)