Sacred Flowers are turned into Incense Sticksby Rushitha Satla | 31-08-2022 22:33 |
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 India produces tonnes of flower waste everyday. But " Phool" a startup, is giving a second life to these sacred flowers by collecting more than 12 tones from temples and transforming them into handmade incense sticks. The flowers are used in almost every ritual in India, they are considered sacred and can't be thrown into the garbage. Everyday more than a 1000 tonnes of flowers end up in the Ganges River, which causes severe water pollution. But no one quotes temple waste as a source of pollution. Pool employees pick up the flower waste from all the major temples I major cities, then they transport the flowers to Phool's facility, where they weigh and seperate them from thread, fabric and plastic. Flowers are sorted according to their color. They dry the flower petals and once they dry they grind them into powder and is mixed by hand with water and essential oils until it reaches a clay like structure. They roll into incense sticks. Ankit the founder of Phool says his product is cleaner than others. He calls this transformation as flower cycling. Normally incense sticks are made from charcoal. Buying charcoal releases poisonous Sulphur dioxide and gives out xylene chemicals. So this replacing if charcoal with flower waste will gradually reduce the carbon foot print in the country. There are many major environmental issues but I believe that you need not to be soo good enough to solve it. But you just have to be aware of your surroundings and just think a little bit about what can you contribute to reduce atleast the minimal amount of carbon foot print in your area. Your ideas need not to be great, but they should reflect your responsibility towards the society. |
