TIRUCHI
Floral waste generated in 182 temples in Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Perambalur and Karur districts are being converted into organic manure and used in the respective temple gardens under the ITC Mission ‘Sunehra Kal’ Green Temple Initiative. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department which has given its nod for the Green Temple initiative and the Exnora International are involved in this initiative.
Composters, donated by philanthropists and the ITC, have been given to all 182 temples to convert flower waste into organic manure with microbes being added to aid the composting process. The Green Temple Initiative, launched in 2018, covered 19 temples in 2019-20; 38 temples in 2020-21; and 125 temples in 2021-2022, said A. V. Elampooranan, cluster coordinator, Exnora International, Tiruchi.
The flowers that adorned the deities are separated from the garland and fed into the organic composter every day. Microbes are added to aid and accelerate the composting process. The microbes are added thrice weekly with water sprinkled over them. Organic manure gets generated after 45 days which is used in the temple gardens. Now flowers are neither thrown into waterbodies nor into dust bins once they become dry, said Mr. Elampooranan.
Composters of varying sizes having been given to the temples. Under this initiative, a bio-gas plant was installed near the annadhana kitchen of Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in 2018.
Around 400 kg of cow dung generated from the ‘ghoshalas are fed into the unit to produce bio-gas which is used in the ‘annadhana’ kitchen for preparation of ‘prasadam.’ Further, bio-degradable waste such as vegetable waste, food waste and floral waste were fed into the organic composter to produce organic manure which is used in the ‘Nandhavanam’ of the temple, Mr. Elampooranan said. More temples in Tiruchi region have been identified under the Green Temple initiative, he added.
Donors and volunteers of the Green Temple Initiative were felicitated at a function organised by ITC Mission Sunehra Kal and Exnora International in the city on Sunday. C. Balasubramanian, advisor, Tiruchi District Exnora, and others participated.
