Tobacco is an important cash crop produced in considerable quantities in India. During cigarette manufacturing large quantities of tobacco waste are produced annually and its disposal is a serious ecological problem. In the present study a process for the biodegradation of tobacco waste, under methanogenic conditions, was developed so that environmental pollution can be reduced while producing biogas as a useful energy source. The methanogenic bacterial consortium developed for the anaerobic degradation of tobacco waste without any chemical pretreatment in a single stage digester at 15 days HRT (hydraulic retention time) has been successfully scaled-up to install a 10 m 3 biogas plant. The gas yields (1 kg - 1 T S f e d day - 1 ) varied from 169 to 282 depending on the ambient temperatures. The methane content in the biogas produced was 60%. The pH and VFA content of the digested slurry were 6 8 ± 0 1 and 599 mg litre - 1 , respectively. Nicotine, COD and BOD reductions were 75, 60 and 80%, respectively.