Abbatoirs raise hope for biogas plants

Lalitpur, October 29:

In a bid to manage waste produced by slaughterhouses, Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC) is planning to generate biogas by utilising waste produced at slaughterhouses in municipalities across the country.

As a pilot project, the SWMRMC has partially provided funds to establish a 10 cubic metre capacity biogas plant at a slaughterhouse owned by Kiran Rai at Talchhikhel in Lalitpur.

Rohini Prasad Devkota, environment officer at SWMRMC, said his organisation would seek help of concerned municipalities to establish slaughterhouses but would take its own initiatives to install biogas plants there.

He estimated that around 400 buffaloes, 15,000 chickens, 200 pigs and 600 goats are killed in the Valley every day and the waste produced is mostly dumped on river banks or with other waste.

“Over 100 kg of waste is produced while killing a buffalo. If this waste can be used to generate biogas, it can help us in the proper management of waste and generate biogas which can be used as fuel,” said Devkota.

Kiran’s slaughterhouse is a model one. While butchers across the country are practising unhygienic ways to slaughter animals and handle meat, Kiran has established a modern slaughterhouse where animals are slaughtered in a hygienic way.

Kiran operates Modern Integrated Pork Industry in Talchhikhel, Lalitpur, where Dharan-bred black pigs are slaughtered.

Unlike other slaughterhouses, Kiran uses a gun-like device to make the pig unconscious in around two minutes. In the next five minutes, all the blood is drained out by hanging the carcass. The carcass is then dipped in a stainless boiler where it is exposed to boiling water, after which all hair is cleared off.

Traditionally, pigs are killed by piercing its heart by a sharp spear and its blood is not drained out. The hair is removed by burning the carcass with the help of kerosene or straw.

Rai said the traditional practice is unhygienic as pig struggles before death, during which chemical reactions undergo inside its body.

“I established the slaughterhouse by investing Rs 1.5 million. The Third Livestock Development

Project of the Department of Livestock Services trained me to set up this slaughterhouse,” Rai said. He also said that he was bearing extra costs in maintaining the standards but had not been able to charge extra amount from consumers due to lack of awareness.

He also urged the government to make slaughterhouses follow the measures as mentioned in Meat Act and Regulation.