"In a religious country like India, temple waste gets predominant and is a subject of concern. People are accustomed to offering flowers, sweets, garlands and milk as a symbol of devotion. But every year, many tons of temple waste is dumped in the rivers and lands – killing fish other living beings and, creating chaos in the fragile atmosphere and then leading to pollution on land and water. The fertilizers and pesticides in the flowers also steam in the water bodies, threatening the marine lives. Decomposition of temple waste takes longer than expected. During rainy season, the condition becomes worse with mosquitoes and flies breeding on the waste. The bulk flowers and leaves are not disposed of suitably to create less impact on the environment and are randomly thrown in public spaces.
Ujjain smart city’s mission is to create a circular economy in the floral industry where all waste is upcycled into a usable product while creating jobs. USCL is utilizing its floral waste following 3R Principle (reduce, reuse & recycle). All the major religious places of Ujjain city were geo mapped/ geo tagged & floral waste hotspots were identified & mapped by ICCC (Integrated Command Control Centre) via GIS. The floral waste is generally collected from prominent places such as Mahakaleshwar Temple, Mangalnath temple, Sandipani ashram etc.
USCL authorized team collects 2.5-3 tons of floral and religious waste every day. This team is very well connected with vendors, temples, event planners, decorators, and anybody who generates floral waste. The collected floral waste is then processed at Plant of 3TPD Capacity, which is situated on Mangal nath road. The area of the plant is 15000 Sqm. The collected waste is then segregated, dried and further processed to create eco-friendly products. USCL has employed local SHGs women from vulnerable families, who upcycle floral waste into high-quality products like incense sticks, holi colours, dhoop,tilak (marigold) etc. This waste is also converted into briquettes (kande) & compost. Farmers are now getting high quality organic compost. The briquettes are the blocks prepared out of the semi-solid residue of floral waste process. Briquettes are being used as bio fuel for cremation.
2200 tons of floral waste is treated till date. 41250 Incense sticks are prepared each day & 3,02,50,000 sticks are made till date. The total cost of the project was 0.2 Crores (SCM Grant). These incense sticks are made from offerings of temple, having high religious importance. So, these are sold at various outlets of the city & being taken as souvenir.
This initiative is taken to divert the toxic waste from going into water bodies – in a bid to improve the water bodies health. Integrated Command and Control Centre was efficiently utilized for marking floral waste hotspots & is also used for monitoring SWM Vehicles.
"

свернуть