Management of Temple Flowers: A step towards Environmental Sustainability

Abstract— India is a diverse country with many religions, and worship and offerings to deities play a significant role in people's daily lives. Floral offerings are commonly used in religious ceremonies and are a symbol of devotion and respect, therefore, temples generate a large amount and variety of flower waste. When not properly disposed of, temple waste, including floral waste, can end up in landfills or water bodies, where it can cause environmental problems. Discarded floral waste can also harm wildlife, clog drainage systems, and contribute to water pollution. Here we will discuss about the temples of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The majorly offered flowers in temples are marigold, rose, jasmine, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, etc. Tagetes erecta commonly called marigold is offered in tremendous amounts, so there is an urgent need to manage it sustainably. The primary product we extracted is the essence named ‘Pushpsar’ and secondarily essential oil from it. These flowers contain secondary metabolites, so the essential oil has significant medicinal value. Furthermore, the slurry by-product is used to make bio fertilizers, overall the flower waste which was disposed off earlier in the Holy Saryu River, now used as valuable products in sustainable modus.