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Floral Waste Boosting Circular Economy
Context: India’s transition to sustainability and a circular economy emphasises waste-to-wealth initiatives. Utilising composting pits in temples and engaging Temple trusts and Self Help Groups (SHGs) in recycling can significantly boost employment.
Floral Waste:
- Floral waste significantly contributes to water pollution, with 8,000,000 metric tonnes dumped into the river Ganga annually.
- It solely accounts for 16% of its total river pollutants and nearly a third of all solid waste in the country.
- This pollution promotes algae growth, harming aquatic organisms.
Strategies for Floral Waste Management in Temples
- Composting Pits in Temples: Implementing composting pits in temples can help in reducing the amount of floral waste that ends up in rivers and landfills, contributing to environmental preservation.
- Temple Trusts and SHGs: Involving temple trusts and SHGs in recycling efforts can create significant employment opportunities for women.
- Educating Priests and Devotees: Outreach programs to educate priests/devotees about not dumping floral waste in rivers can help encourage waste reduction.
- Digital Offerings and Biodegradable Materials: Promoting digital offerings or biodegradable materials instead of traditional flowers can help reduce floral waste.
Innovative Solutions and Impact
- Green Temples Concept: The “Green Temples” concept can be integrated into policies to transform temples into eco-friendly spaces.
- National Horticulture Board: It can be involved in tracking and managing floral waste in green spaces like parks.
- Floral Waste Collection and Recycling: Social entrepreneurs are recycling flowers into valuable products like organic compost, candles, and incense sticks.
- Specialised Vehicles and Plants: Specialised vehicles and plants are used to collect and process floral waste, turning it into eco-friendly products and biofuel.
- Floral waste recycling contributes to SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) as it creates sustainable jobs with benefits like fixed salaries.
- It helps transform temples into eco-friendly spaces, contributing to the SDG11 (creation of sustainable cities and communities)
- It also contributes to SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) by promoting a circular economy turning waste into valuable products.
Case Studies
- Ujjain’s Mahalakaleshwar Temple: Specialised vehicles collect waste daily, which is processed at a 3TPD plant, turning it into eco-friendly products and employing women from the Shiv Arpan Self-Help Group.
- Siddhivinayak Temple: Floral waste is transformed into natural dyes for creating textiles and other products by Mumbai-based designer house ‘Adiv Pure Nature’.
- Tirupati Municipal Corporation: The city collects and recycles floral waste into valuable and reusable products, employing 150 women from self-help groups.
- Phool: Collects floral waste from various cities and upcycles it into items like incense sticks, employing women with benefits like fixed salaries and healthcare.
- HolyWaste: Revitalises floral waste through ‘Florjuvination’, creating eco-friendly products like fertilisers, incense sticks, and soaps.
- Aaruhi: Collects floral waste from over 15 temples in Delhi-NCR, recycling 1,000 kg of waste and earning over Rs 2 lakh monthly, training over 3,000 women.
