LAHORE: The Punjab government said on Monday that a successful experiment for making biogas from biodegradable animal waste was conducted at Lakhodair in the city for the first time in history.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz presided over a meeting on biogas production from the waste project of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) and directed the authorities concerned to start the `waste-tovalue` project under `Suthra` Punjab Programme at the earliest.

The meeting was briefed that some 20,000kg of gas could be produced from 1,000 metric tonnes of waste, and a revenue of Rs6 million could be generated from biogas production from the waste of sacrificial animals. Itwas further informed that 275,000 tonnes of carbon credits and $4.2m income would be earned from the rehabilitation of the disposal site annually.

A pilot project for producing biogas from waste in Lahore at a cost of just a few hundred thousands had been successful. `A 50 MW waste-to-energy plant will be able to convert 3,000 tonnes of waste into electricity daily. In 10 years, the gas obtained from the landfill site will generate $2.5m.

The CM also reviewed a model of a recycling park, which could generate an annual revenue of Rs190m. There will be a 60 per cent reduction in waste from landfills through municipal solid waste treatment.

The waste-to-value Incubation centre will provide technical support, seed funding, research and development opportunities for start-ups.