Varanasi: Flowers offered at temples across Kashi are finding a new purpose as an initiative transforms floral waste into eco-friendly products such as incense sticks, dhoop, havan material, herbal gulal and tulsi powder, while creating livelihood opportunities for women.Every day, around 1,000 kg of flowers and leaves are collected from nearly 110 temples across Varanasi. The initiative aims to manage temple waste and prevent floral offerings from being dumped into rivers such as the Ganga and Varuna.The project is being led by Komal Singh through her organisation, Easy Help. Inspired by women empowerment programmes such as Mission Shakti, she aims to promote women’s self-reliance alongside environmental conservation.The initiative began with flower collection from 10 temples and has since expanded to around 110, including several prominent religious sites in Kashi. Three e-rickshaws, named “Pushp Rath”, are deployed to collect floral waste from the temples.After collection, the flowers are sorted by quality, dried naturally without chemicals and ground into powder. The processed material is then used to make incense sticks, dhoop, dry-stick dhoop, herbal gulal and edible tulsi powder.Komal Singh said nearly 40-50% of the collected flowers are unsuitable for making incense or dhoop. This material is being stored separately and safely, with plans to convert it into organic compost in the future.The initiative is also generating employment for women. Around 70-80 women are directly or indirectly associated with the work and earn between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 a month.Municipal commissioner Himanshu Nagpal said the initiative brings together faith, environmental protection and women’s empowerment. He said it was helping address the challenge of religious waste management while providing women with dignified and sustainable livelihood opportunities.
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