Utilisation Of Flower Waste For Making Incense Sticks

Abstract

In India, it is a common practice for people to carry flowers to temples as offerings; almost 500,000 people do this every day. An estimated 800 million tonnes of flowers are utilized for different functions at various religious places all around the country. Flowers, after they have served their function, are thrown away in the water bodies, which is the primary cause of pollution in them. The main focus of this study is to repurpose discarded flowers into incense sticks. It highlights the collection, segregation, utilisation, and management of waste flowers produced by temples. In this study, rose powder prepared from the flower waste generated in the popular temples of Jaipur city was used as the main ingredient to produce incense sticks. The prepared sticks were also evaluated for their impact on indoor air quality and subsequently compared with both commercially available herbal and chemical incense sticks. This paper introduces a concept for utilizing and managing floral waste generated from temples by transforming it into incense sticks, with the aim of promoting the concept of eco-friendly and sustainable temple practices.