According to the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), 20 buses will run on fuel made from food waste collected from different hotels from October 20, 2020. The compressed bio-gas will be supplied to the PMPML by Indian Oil Corporation. The trials on these bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) buses have already been completed. Besides, the permissions and approvals have also been obtained from Central Institute of Road Transport and Automotive Research Association of India.
Buses running from the Bhosari depot of the PMPML towards Talegaon area will run on bio-CNG. To that end, a refuelling station has been set up in Talegaon, and another fuelling station at Nigdi is scheduled to get ready in three months’ time, as per PMPML. More than 50 buses in the PMPML fleet will run on this eco-friendly fuel.
In 2014, the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation got into an agreement with Noble Exchange Environment Solutions Private Limited to collect hotel food waste and convert it into bio-fuel. PMPML aims to run more than 100 buses on this alternative fuel by January 2020.