Weddings, events or religious ceremonies, flowers are intrinsic to Indian culture. But indirectly this consumption of flowers constitutes to nearly one-third of the country’s total solid waste! Flowers that stood as testimony of love, finally end up in dumpyards or will increase BOD in already-polluted lakes.
General assumption is, flowers are bio-degradable and floral waste discarded anywhere in soil or water can decompose slowly. But Alas! This is wrong. Water degradation due to floral waste causes reduction in dissolved oxygen, promoting Algal blooms and Eutrophication of lakes and finally killing fish and Marine life.
As decorators, Event managers, or as someone hosting an event /wedding party, is there something that we can do to save our beautiful country from Solid-waste crisis? Today’s DecorSutra blog is about, effective utilisation of floral waste created in weddings and events.
Floral-waste is nutrient and color rich and finds a variety of uses:
- Organic Vermi-Compost
- Making of Natural dyes
- Charcoal Free Incense Sticks
- Biodegradable paper
- Candle-embellishments and Jewellery
- Home made Soap
- Leather! (Yes, you read it right)
General problem associated with solid waste is segregation. When the floral waste is not mixed with other domestic and municipal waste, it can easily be re-purposed or recycled. Whether you are a host, or event manager, look out for nearby Composting / Natural dying units and handover the used flowers , even if it is for a charge. Many composting units convert floral waste to Vermi-compost.
Here we provide links of some organisations that convert floral-waste to Compost , incense sticks etc
- Kanpur, Tirupati, Chennai- www.Phool.co
- Noida- Sector 34 – Noida-Nari Niketan
- Mumbai- Andheri- Adiv Pure Nature
- Bangalore- Hasiru Dala Innovations
- Mumbai- Nirmalya-Green wave solutions
- Hyderabad- Telangana Oorvi Soultions
Love the idea of floral-waste conversion to useful products? Check the Technical aspect of flower composting units at Phool.co . You can start your own composting/ incense stick making unit and provide employment too, by assistance from www.phool.co
Let’s revolutionarize the way wedding floral-waste is handled in India! Be the change that you want to see in the world !
Note: There is also another widely circulated myth that cloth and plastic flowers are alternatives for fresh Flowers, as the former can be used multiple times, but this myth is also wrong! Plastic and Cloth pose bigger threat to guests health and environment than the floral waste, and take years to decompose after discarding.
Awesome post and really colorful solution for wedding floral waste. Thanks for sharing such a good post.