lucknow

Updated: Jan 08, 2019 13:20 IST

Tonnes of flowers that are offered at temples and shrines across the city will now be used to manufacture incense sticks. The measure will not only help keep the city clean but also provide employment.

As per the initiative, Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has partnered a city based social enterprise to collect flowers offered at religious places in the city for processing. “The plan is to make incense sticks and bio compost from the collected floral waste ,” said municipal commissioner Indramani Tripathi.

LMC has provided space for the social enterprise at Kanha Upvan for processing. The corporation has also roped in CSIR-CIMAP (Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) to provide scientific expertise for the project.

Dr RK Srivastav, an expert from CIMAP, visited Kanha Upvan to inspect the facility. “With the existing infrastructure, we have started the process of vermi compost. The project of making incense will begin by next week following basic training of workers,” he said.

According to a survey conducted by the NGO involved in the project, an estimated two tonnes of floral waste is offered at around 30 major temples and shrines in the city. These flowers, if collected in time, will provide abundant raw material for the project. “The flowers will be segregated at Kanha Upvan. Fresh flowers will be used for making incense sticks while the rest will be used for making compost,” said Harshit Sonker, founder of the social enterprise heading the project.

As per experts, 30-35 kg of incense can be made from a quintal of fresh flowers. “Our aim is to make incense from at least 20% of all flowers collected. At present the amount is less than 10% due to absence of abreast collection and segregation system,” Sonker said.

The LMC has also approached management of the major temples and shrines to help in the project. “We will provide dustbins for collection of fresh flowers at the temples and request them to ensure that all fresh flowers offered at the temple are put in it,” said the municipal commissioner. The LMC has also deployed two small carrier vehicles to collect the flowers from the temples and take them to Kanha Upvan. “The vehicle will begin the collection process in the morning and deposit the collected flowers by afternoon to begin processing,” he added.

The project is expected to provide employment to around 100 people. While their earnings will be taken care of from the sale of incense sticks, the NGO plans to give the compost to farmers at a nominal price.