Diwali is a time of celebration but we can transform it into a continuum of sustainable joy which is generated by our conscious efforts to create a lasting and positive impact on our environment.
We rant about the polluting effects of crackers and resort to using only flowers and ‘diyas’ to decorate our homes. However, we need to give a thought as to where all this floral waste from our homes and places of worship along with ‘diyas’, ends up. Having been offered in prayers, the dead flowers are considered holy, and therefore they get dumped in the nearest water-body, clogging the water channels. Or else flower waste is strewn on roadsides, or thrown into landfills. More than 8 million tonnes of flowers are dumped in the river every year, along with the toxic pesticides and insecticides used to grow them.
Many of us in South City 1 took it upon ourselves to drop off the flowers and ‘diyas’ used at Diwali, to the Recycling station at the Prachin Hanuman aur Shiv Dev Mandir, off sunset Boulevard, Gurugram. This collection drive is an initiative of “I Am Gurgaon” (IAG), whereby they team up with NGOs like Avacayam which in turn give a new form and life to the festive Waste, and turn it into usable products, such as organic compost, soaps, candles, incense sticks and cones, natural dyes and essential oils. One NGO is even working on developing a vegan leather called “Fleather” from a fibrous growth on the old flowers.
Seema Menon (G3) took the lead and requested people to drop the Diwali Waste at her residence from where she transported around 30Kg of it to the Mandir. Surbhi Pahuja (I 32) got around twenty-five households to join the collection drive. Others like Jayashree Kurup ventured to make bio enzymes using the flowers.
I have to admit that the transformation of dead flowers into fragrant essential oils and vibrant Holi colours, has made me re-look at reincarnation with animation.
