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For the past seven years, he has not used a single LPG cylinder.
He has converted more than 1,000 tons of organic waste into fuel. (Image source: Instagram)
As hundreds wait in long queues for LPG amid the West Asia crisis, this IIT worker has not bought a cylinder in seven years. Priyadarshan Shahstrabuddhi in Pune cooks his meals without ever touching a drum, because he runs his kitchen using garbage.
Shahstrabuddhi built a biodegrader called Vaayu, which turns 11 kilograms of food waste and vegetable peels from his neighbors’ kitchens into 800 liters of cooking gas.
For the past seven years, he has not used a single LPG cylinder. He has converted more than 1,000 tons of organic waste into fuel.
How does it work?
Simply add your kitchen waste such as vegetable peels, food scraps or other organic scraps to the Vaayu tank.
Natural bacteria break down the waste and release methane.
The gas is stored in a balloon that connects directly to the burner, providing clean, renewable cooking fuel.
Vaayu is easy to use, eco-friendly, and a powerful alternative to LPG. With each Indian generating about 55 kg of food waste annually, he believes kitchens across the country will soon be able to cook food without buying gas.
“At Vaayu, we stand by this belief. By embracing lifestyle changes, shifting to renewable alternatives, and creating circularity in our daily lives, we can make sustainability more than just a choice – it can become a way of life,” Priyadarshan said.
Priyadarshan supplies Vaayu to canteens, hotels and housing societies. Today, more than 350 homes use this system, saving about 2,500 LPG cylinders every year.
People using Vaayu Biodigester
A restaurant in Pune has installed a Vaayu biogas plant, converting 60 to 70 kg of daily food waste, and sometimes up to 100 kg on weekends, into clean biogas. Staff meals and even some customer dishes are now cooked using this environmentally friendly fuel.
Priyadarshan also shared the story of Angad Patwardhan, who has been completely LPG-free since March 2022. Instead of throwing vegetable peels, food scraps and leftovers into the trash, he puts them in a Vaayu Biogas digester, which converts them into cooking fuel.
He also buys more organic waste from Team SWaCH, a group that collects food scraps from homes in his area to put in the tank.
“If each of us treats our waste at home, we can make a huge impact on the environment,” Priyadarshan said.
Delhi, India, India
21 March 2026 at 08:33 IST
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