Management of Temple Flowers: A step towards Environmental Sustainability
Abstract
India is a diverse country with many religions, and worship and offerings to deities playa significant role in people'sdaily lives. Floral offerings are commonly used in religious ceremonies and are a symbol of devotion and respect, therefore, temples generate a large amount and variety of flower waste. When not properly disposed of, temple waste, including floral waste, can end up in landfills or water bodies, where it can cause environmental problems. Discarded floral waste can also harm wildlife, clog drainage systems, and contribute to water pollution. Here we will discuss about the temples of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The majorly offered flowers in temples are marigold, rose, jasmine, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, etc. Tagetes erecta commonly called marigold is offered in tremendous amounts, so there is an urgent need to manage it sustainably. The primary product we extracted is the essence named ‘Pushpsar’ and secondarily essential oil from it. These flowers contain secondary metabolites, so the essential oil has significant medicinal value. Furthermore, the slurry by-product is used to make bio fertilizers, overall the flower waste which was disposed off earlier in the Holy Saryu River, now used as valuable products in sustainable modus.
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Introduction
In India, the most populated nation, religion is a way of life, and various religious festivals are celebrated occasionally. Various religious rituals are performed in temples, gurudwaras, churches, dargahs, mosques, hotels, banquets, and houses, in which a variety of items, including sweets, garlands (flowers), fruits (edible and non-edible), etc., are offered to gods (Yadav et al., 2015; Samadhiya et al., 2017). In these ceremonies, floral waste has considerable fractions, which have been discarded after a single use. These flowers are disposed into water bodies, thereby polluting them (Burnley, 2007), or dumped onto open lands, causing environmental pollution (Wijayapala, 2013). Being an offering to God, flowers do not find their way to the conventional waste disposal system because of religious beliefs.
According to Puranik, (2019) it is a wrong assumption that flower waste is biodegradable in nature, so it can be discarded anywhere for decomposition. Dumping of flowers in water bodies or open landfills consequence in environmental hazards (Singh et al., 2013). Dumping of flower waste in rivers/ponds/lakes results in a threat to the aquatic ecosystem as it decreases the amount of dissolve oxygen. Such kind of activity significantly affect the aquatic organisms (Mahindrakar, 2018). Some of the major harmful effects are as follows: • Drainage system and waterways connected to the water bodies get clogged (Maity and Kumar, 2016) • Dumping of floral waste on roadsides and open places gives murky look to an area and distorts the image (Waghmode et al., 2018) • Flower waste disposal initially increases the organic load which may tend to enhance the growth of weeds and microorganism in the aquatic ecosystem (Makhania and Upadhyay, 2015). • Decomposing flowers releases several kinds of nutrients which trigger algal growth resulting in eutrophication. • Places of devotion apart from flower waste generate a lot of single-use plastic waste in terms of plastic bottles and plastic bags (Bhatia, 2018; Mehta, 2013). • Floral waste can create a hideous appearance in public spaces and negatively impact the natural beauty of areas like Ghats. Due to the availability of high organic content as well as the lack of proper handling strategies the degradation of flowers is avery slow process (Jadhav et al., 2013). Every year approximately 80,00,000 tons of flowers are dumped in the rivers in India choking them to death (Maity and Kumar, 2016). With the increase of the human population, the number of visitors is also increasing which consequentially contributes to the generation of an enormous amount of flower (Samadhiya et al., 2017). Disposal of temple flowers are a major challenge throughout India (Padmavathiamma et al., 2008; Murthy, and Naidu, 2012; Wani et al., 2013).
Temple waste causes afoul odor after degradation which creates air, water, and land pollution. Human health is also affected by the generation of pollution (Vankar et al., 2009). Thus, there is a necessity for a proper and eco-friendly process for floral waste disposal. Flowers like Marigold (Tagetes spp.) and rose (Rosa damascene) are used to make incense sticks and rose water. Moreover, various other products such as herbal colors, natural dyes, medicine, decorative items, paper, food production, sugar syrup, pigments, biosurfactants, biofuels, compost, bioethanol can also be incorporated from these flowers (Bhattacharya, et al., 2012; Ranjitha, et al., 2014; Waghmode, et al., 2016). Several value-added goods can be prepared from the flowers which is being dumped simply. Figure 1 shows the list of different items prepared from flower waste as waste to wealth concept. At present management of floral waste is being done to reduce the pollution load. Environment friendly methods are adapted to manage and treat these floral wastes in a cost-effective way. The net result of such practices is to develop useful products on sustainable manner (Bundela, et al., 2010; Jain, 2016). The present study aims to explore the different pathways for the sustainable utilization of flower waste being generated in the various temples of Ayodhya. Furthermore, to aware and generate income to the farmers and job opportunities to local peoples.
FIGURE 1: Flower waste to value added products.
Conclusion
Improper management and dumping of flowers change the soil, water, and air quality of the environment of the temple of Ayodhya. This study proposes an alternative approach for the waste management since the waste could be used as a resource for manufacturing useful products. It would further help temples in generating additional revenues. Floral waste utilization would eventually be beneficial to society as individuals would get to live in a cleaner and healthier environment. Earlier the flowers gathered at the temples of Ayodhya, were directly disposed of in River Saryu or nearby open areas thereby causing water pollution. Diverting temple flowers to the pilot project for the extraction of flowery water and essential oil is ultimately reducing water pollution load of the river Saryu. This pilot project converts the flower waste into different useful products. The primary product we obtained from our distillation plant is the essence of the flower named PUSHPSAR and secondarily we extracted Essential oil. The remaining is being converted into biofertilizer, so these three products are being formed at the present time. The essential oil and the flowery water are of great economic value. The main objective of this pilot project is to develop the skills of temple flower management and earn money form this waste as well as generating empowerment for the youth.
Hence awareness campaign is being created among the pilgrims, authorities of temple, and municipality to adopt this practice to have a clean and healthy environment and financial independence. The generated floral waste can used for making natural colors, rose water, essence, natural dyes, incense sticks, handmade papermaking too. This will help in reducing the problem of the overburdened waste disposal. The eco-friendly (“green temple concept”) can prove to be helpful in Government policy formulation for waste management and in promoting a sustainable development approach toward temples.
