The Postgraduate Department of Environmental Science, has been excelling in environmental conservation and environmental intellectual human resource development for nearly thirty-eight years at Bishop Heber College, which is located in the heart of Trichy city. Through the Resource Recovery Management Facility and the Centre for Environmental Sustainability, the department strives to achieve environmental sustainability in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. The centres integrates all activities related to environmental protection, conversion of waste into wealth, training environmental entrepreneurs, production of value-added products, and have separate units for vermincomposting, paper waste recycling, plastic recycling, a natural gas plant, and a sewage treatment plant.
The 35 acres that make up Bishop Heber College are 60 percent covered with trees, shrubs, and grass. On average, half a tonne (500 kg) of garden trash is produced daily on campus. The vermicomposting yard uses this garden waste, which is sold for 15 rupees per kilogramme. Also, large amounts of waste paper are collected and recycled to make files and handmade stationery materials.About 40 kg of food waste is produced by the nine on-campus hostels. It is gathered and sent to the biogas facility. In the hostel mess, the biogas is used for cooking, saving energy by displacing the LPG cylinder. "A toilet-linked biogas facility eliminates the need to empty faecal sludge from septic tanks on a regular basis." Under this system, the existing toilets in the hostels were linked to the septic tank, and after some segregation, it was processed at the biogas plant, which provided an outlet for the digested slurry and the gas delivery system for taking out and utilising the produced gas. By managing all of the garbage produced on campus, Bishop Heber College has attained zero waste certification
The paper recycling plant was established in February 2022. Paper trash from various workplaces and departments is collected and recycled under this facility.
Machines used for paper recycling:
Centre Coordinator
Prof. A. Alagappa Moses
Centre Coordinator,
Bishop Heber College (Autonomous)
Tiruchirappalli – 620 017
Email:aalagappamoses@gmail.com / aalagappamoses@bhc.edu.in