Flower-cycling is an inimitable way, where green waste can be introduced back to economy by producing value added organic products and generating revenues, as well as creating job opportunities and new business ideas.

In India, flowers are considered as holy entities and hence are offered to deities. Every day flowers offered by the devotees in temples are left lying dumped in outdoor spaces, crushed by people, animals and swamped with flies.

Floral waste is one of the major issues that is a cause of concern for environmentalists in the current scenario. People have the wrong assumption about the biodegradable nature of floral waste that it will eventually decompose after discarding anywhere, which leads to makeshift dumping areas for waste that becomes a breeding ground for diseases. Decomposing of waste flowers are a pollution threat on land as well on water. Flower waste discarded into water bodies decomposes, causes pollution and depletes the dissolved oxygen, contaminates stagnant water bodies and choke them. This affects ecosystems, resulting in algal blooms and eutrophication in lakes.

The first step of flower-cycling is collection of the floral waste from various temples. These flowers are then graded as per the colour and type. The perished flowers are separated and the good quality flowers after drying, transformed into eco-friendly/organic value-added products such as herbal colours, herbal tea (calendula & marigold), handmade papers, dye and charcoal free incense sticks. The remaining part of the floral waste can be converted into vermicompost. The separated perished flowers can be converted into compost to promote organic farming which can nourish a vegetable or flower garden or sold to generate revenue.

Written By:
Dr. Pooja Pant
Associate Professor (Horticulture), FASC
SGT UNIVERSITY