Noida to recycle flower waste under ‘Zero Waste Noida’ project

NOIDA: Adding to their initiative of ‘Zero Waste Noida’, the Noida authority has decided to recycle the floral waste generated from the city’s temples by recycling it into organic colours, incense sticks and compost by NGOs working with destitute women and mentally-challenged people. City authorities are working with NGOs for better implementation of the zero waste project by recycling hundreds of kilograms of used flowers every day in a bid to check their dumping in water bodies, they said. Alok Tandon, Noida Authority’s Chairman-cum-CEO, said that the authority has partnered with the Society for Child Development and Nari Niketan to recycle floral waste. 

The authority’s horticulture department daily transports used flowers from nearly half-a-dozen temples, including the city’s ISCKON temple. To the NGOs engaged in the work, a senior official said, “In the days of yore, the flowers were immersed in the river since it was considered to be an ancient tradition. Maybe it was, but many decades ago, when the river flowed freely and the air was clean and fresh. Now, our rivers, ponds, water bodies are badly polluted and dumping of floral waste would only add to the water pollution. The women in these NGOs have been trained in flower recycling — transforming the flowers into colors for Holi, agarbatti (incense sticks), compost. A Zero Waste project! And all products are 100 per cent eco-friendly.”