Discarded Flowers From 182 Temples Converted Into Organic Manure

The floral waste accumulated from over 182 temples in the cities of Karur, Thanjavur, Tiruchi, and Perambalur is being used in making organic manure, under the mission of 'Sunehra Kal', which is an initiative of Green Temple. 

This initiative is being supported by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, which has given its approval to the Green Temple initiative, and Exnora International. Composters were donated by philanthropists and the ITC was given to all the temples.  

These composters, along with the help of microbes will convert flowers and other waste into organic manure. With the help of microbes, the composting process will accelerate. The garland and flowers that were used in the decoration of the deities get removed. After being removed they get added to the organic composter each day.  

The microbes also get added to the composter three times per week. The water also gets sprinkled on the top of it. After the duration of 45 days, the organic manure gets ready and is used in the same temple gardens.  

The flowers are no longer get thrown into the water or dustbins after being dried. Under this initiative, a bio-gas composter got installed near the kitchen of Srirangam, in 2018. Composters of different sizes were also given to the temples under the same scheme. Approximately 400 kg of cattle dung produced by the ghoshalas is supplied into the facility to generate bio-gas, which is later used in the Annadhana kitchen to prepare prasadam. 

Furthermore, waste products that can be bio-degraded, such as food waste and floral waste, also get fed into the composter for the production of organic manure, which later can be used by the Nandhavanam temple. The Green initiative has identified more such temples under its scheme in the region of Tiruchi.