12th Grader Solves Landfill Crisis with Drones
At a young age, Bhrigu Uppal, a Class 12 student from Delhi, is transforming waste management in India with his ground breaking initiative, Project SenseFly - a drone-based system that monitors harmful landfill gases in real time. His patented sensor drone technology not only tracks methane emissions but also reduces them using zeolite-based innovations, already tested at Indian landfills.
In this episode of the Edexlive Podcast by The New Indian Express, Bhrigu shares his journey — from spotting waste mountains on a road trip to developing tech solutions that bridge science, sustainability, and social impact.
If you’re interested in climate change, environmental innovation, student change makers, drones in sustainability, or India’s future leaders, this episode is for you.
5 Things We Loved About Bhrigu’s Story:
1. Innovation Sparked by Real-Life Observation
Bhrigu was inspired to start Project SenseFly after witnessing massive, unsafe landfills during a road trip. His concern for environmental and human safety led him to explore waste management solutions, starting with drone-based methane gas monitoring.
2. Tackling Complex Engineering Challenges
Building a functional drone was a major technical challenge. Bhrigu had to learn advanced concepts like mathematical modeling and center of mass calculations to stabilize the drone carrying the sensor payload, showing strong problem-solving and engineering acumen.
3. Science-Backed Methane Reduction Using Zeolite
After detecting methane, Bhrigu wanted to reduce it. Through self-led research and experimentation, he discovered that zeolite, a readily available material in India, could reduce methane emissions from waste by 20%, demonstrating real environmental impact.
4. Real-World Deployment and Community Impact
The drone and sensor system have been successfully deployed at landfills in India. Users could monitor emissions through a custom website, comparing methane levels before and after zeolite application—highlighting how a student-led innovation can influence public systems.
5. Encouraging Grassroots Innovation
Bhrigu’s message to aspiring changemakers: Start with problems in your own community, and don’t wait to know everything. Learn as you go. His journey from not knowing how to build a drone to running impactful projects shows how consistency and curiosity can drive change.
Our Conversation With Bhrigu:
Soundarya (Host): Welcome to the Edexlive podcast by The New Indian Express. Today, we are joined by Bhrigu Uppal, a Grade 12 student at Sanskriti School Delhi, who is revolutionizing waste Management through Project Sensefly, a drone-based initiative that monitors harmful landfill gases in real time.
His patented sensor drone technology, backed by scientific research and government recognition, is already deployed across major Indian landfills sites with innovations like zeolite-based methane reduction and active policy advocacy.
Bhrigu is driving sustainable change at the intersection of science, technology, and environmental justice.
Hi, Bhrigu. It's such a pleasure to have you on the Edexlive podcast today. How are you doing?
Bhrigu Uppal: Thank you so much. I'm doing perfectly well, and yeah, I'm really looking forward.
Soundarya (Host): Wonderful. So, to begin with, can you tell me a little bit about yourself, and you know, the inception of the idea and how it came about? What inspired that?
Bhrigu Uppal: So basically, the idea of the project came up in grade nine. Basically, what was happening was that it was for the first time that I was going from Delhi to Chandigarh in a road trip, and Chandigarh is my hometown, and that's why I was going over there, and during the trip I looked at mountains, which surprisingly came up so early, which was quite surprising because in fact, those mountains were actually mountains.
Those were huge piles of waste, felt that it wasn't the right way to actually store waste, and upon getting closer, I also saw small people, tiny, tiny people working on the landfill without any safety equipment, and I was aware that working with waste and during waste is that way because it releases a lot of gases and it isn't safe for them. And when I came back from the trip, I researched about it, and that's how Project Sensefly started.
Soundarya (Host): Wonderful. So building a drone that detects gases sounds super complex. What do you think was the hardest part about actually making it work?
Bhrigu Uppal: So basically, whenever anybody makes a DIY drone at their homes, the hardest part is usually making it fly.
Making it fly, when I see that, I basically mean that coding the speed controllers in such a way that they balance the amount of power, so that they said to each motor. And when that happens, it actually allows for a stable flight.
That was the hardest part, and even in my project, it was much harder because in Project Sensefly, there is a sensor box mounted on the drone.
The drone not only had to support its weight, but also the weight of the sensor box. When that happened, it was not working at first.
Eventually, I read up some literature. I remember reading a research paper based on mathematical modeling and finding the center of mass.
I researched the solution that instead of using just one string to tie the sensor box on the drone, I used four strings and let it balance by itself
Soundarya (Host): Right, what was your first reaction when you saw it work? It must have been such a nice feeling, right?
Bhrigu Uppal: Yeah, it was such a nice feeling. I wanted to clap, but I couldn't because I had the controller in my hands.
Soundarya (Host): So, how did you figure out that zeolite could reduce methane by 20%? Was it a trial-and-error thing, or did you follow a specific process?
Bhrigu Uppal: So basically, finding out about zeolite's efficiency was actually part of the research component of the project Sensefly.
So after creating the drone and the sensor box, I actually was struck by a question that what's next? What can I do now to actually reduce methane emissions, because this device can only detect methane, right?
Then I started. Reading up stuff on Google, I have found that overlaying certain substances on waste can actually trap the harmful gases within the waste and lead to a reduction in methane emissions.
So I read up somewhere and made a list of four to five materials, which are known to reduce methane emissions.
But these materials weren't actually ready to be available in India, and thus, I had to read up on the characteristics of these materials and find something that was actually available in India.
And finally, we had come up with a zeolite, biocharcoal, and after that, what we did was I designed an experiment in which I divided the domestic waste into two bins.
One was the experimental bin and one was the control bin. I overlaid the material in the experiment bin and monitored it over a period of six hours, and finally putting through the results, I found that zeolite was more sufficient out of all, and it reduced the emissions by 20%.
Soundarya (Host): Awesome. So I just wanted to know what certain inspirations or ideas, or books that you read, helped you solve this current problem? Was there any research that you did? Can you just take us through that?
Bhrigu Uppal: The idea is basic, basically used in water ponds in fish ponds, where it acts like alum, it uses reduces dampness in water, but it was never tested with wastes and reducing gases in landfill areas.
And that's what I guess I did as part of a researcher and contributed to society.
Soundarya (Host): Right. Absolutely. So now moving on to on-ground impact, can you tell me if you've gotten any kind of reactions from real people that you have offered your services to, and what it's been like? What's their reaction been like?
Bhrigu Uppal: So, overall, I got a post response from all of them, and that was because they were very excited to see a drone that can actually fly and a solution that can solve a major problem coming from a high schooler like me. And basically, what my model included was renting out the drone to these landfills for a week or two and allowing them to use the drone properly and integrate it into their system.
I gave them a website on which they can see the map of the landfill and see where the methane gas emissions are more. And they can also see the before and after methane gas levels after the solution of Zeolite.
Soundarya (Host): So, do you see your technology more on a local scale, or do you also see it having global implications as well?
Bhrigu Uppal: Well, I would say it can definitely be reused in other countries, but it was obviously developed in the context of India because in developed countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, such solutions already exist, and my solution can actually be a cost effective cnhancer, which can enhance the solution over there, but it won't be such a big problem solver as it is in India.
But in other countries like Indonesia and other African countries, and South American countries, obviously, it can be a big update to their system to solve methane emissions.
Soundarya (Host): Absolutely. Now, all of this thinking must be taking up a lot of your energy. What do you do to unwind? Because I know that big ideas need a lot of energy, so how do you recharge?
Bhrigu Uppal: Basically, for this project, this was a big, huge project. It has become huge now, but when it started, it was just a drone with some sensors on it. So what happened was I started this project in grade nine, and what actually led this project to become big was consistency. I started in grade nine, and I took one year to create the drone, the sensor box. And after that, I took another year to research materials to reduce methane emissions and complete my research paper and get recognition from awards. And when I was in grade 10, the latter part of the year, and also in early grade 11, I started searching for landfill opportunities where I can go and implement my solution.
Soundarya (Host): Right, and do you have any projects ahead of Sensefly? Anything else that you're working on? That's interesting.
Bhrigu Uppal: So basically, at the start of this year, I actually started with another project called Project Aqua Region. So what, this is a multi-year filtering system, which filters B Motors specifically in areas that are scarce in water and have high population density. So basically, it has a course mesh, zeolite. I've used it here as well. I used activated charcoal and gravel, and sand.
So these are the five materials I've used to filter green water, and after filtering, what I'm doing is that I'm integrating IoT-based sensors here as well, which measure its pH and coding levels before and after the filtering process, and after the filtering process, it sends the data, to a machine learning model, which detects and uses case scenario.
For instance, if we have this much pH, then it is safe to use for plants, or if we have this much pH, then it can be used for washing, and that's how I'm planning to integrate with NGOs and deploy it at slum areas.
Soundarya (Host): That is so inspiring. It's so wonderful to see a generation that is thinking on such lines to help solve real-life issues. It's truly incredible. So my final question to you, Bhrigu, is, for all those students who want to make a difference and don't quite know where to start, what would you tell them?
Bhrigu Uppal: In order to, solve a problem, you just need to know the basics of a technology of coding.
You should start with the problems that already exist in your society and your community, and just learn on the way.
Because when I started in grade nine, I didn't really know how to make a drone, how to make and deliver such a larger impact. I started, and eventually, in the process, I learned it.
Soundarya (Host): Thank you so much for being part of the Edexlive podcast. Bhrigu, it was absolutely a pleasure to have you.
So that brings us to the end of the Edexlive podcast by The New Indian Express. Thank you so much for joining in. If you'd like to listen to more of our inspiring stories, log on to Edexlive.com/podcast, or join us here on the Edexlive podcast every Wednesday as we talk to brand-new change makers every week.
