These Indian startups are recycling floral waste to make innovative products
Flowers are not only about aesthetic beauty but also about therapeutic properties and emotional connections with people. Because of this adoration, the Indian floriculture market valued at INR 207 billion in 2021. But this high demand has intensified the floral waste problem in India.
You might think that because flowers are biodegradable, they are harmless.But 8 million metric tonnes of floral waste is dumped into rivers every year in India. This chokes the rivers and pollutes them, causing environmental degradation.
Flower waste at home can be managed in several ways. But what about the flower waste produced from the temples? To deal with this better, these Indian startups have come up with innovative eco-friendly products that can be made from floral waste.
Startups recycling floral waste
1. Holywaste
Oorvi Sustainable Concepts Pvt Ltd. came up with Holywaste, which mainly focused on recycling flower waste. Minal and Maya co-founded this in 2018 and termed the process of flower recycling as “FloRejuvenation”.
Not only just temple waste, but they have partnered with vendors, event planners, and other resources where floral waste is generated.
A wide range of their products includes handmade soaps, incense sticks and cones, fertilizers, floor cleaning, and much more.
Official website: https://oorvi.org/shop/
2. HelpUsGreen
Based out of Kanpur, Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi together founded this startup in 2015. They began by producing biofertilizers and then started working on recycling flower waste to make sustainable products. The overly polluted Ganges River was the primary motivator for them to recycle floral waste.
Presently, they collect more than 4 tonnes of floral waste from the temples. Also, during COVID, they collected flowers directly from the farmers.
After successfully selling incense sticks made from floral waste, they have now developed “Florafoam,” an eco-friendly alternative to Styrofoam.
Official website: https://www.helpusgreen.com/
3. Aaruhi Enterprises
Founded by Poonam Sehrawat and Pinki Yadav, Aaruhi Enterprises aims to protect the environment and empower women. They are able to make around 400 incense sticks from 3 kg of dried flowers.
Around 200 women have been employed there, who all now recycle floral waste to make air fresheners, incense sticks, and idols.
Official website: https://www.saveprithvi.com/
4. Yuvan
Yuvan began by producing 8 kg of incense sticks per month and now sells approximately 3000 kg of incense sticks per month.Yuvan is based in Una, a town in Himachal Pradesh, which has gotten preliminary support from government startup schemes to setup the required unit. They have expanded their reach to the markets of the UK and Germany, where they sell premium packs.
They assure that they generate no waste in the process and utilise the leftovers to make compost.
You can buy Yuvan’s products from Amazon or Flipkart.
Their official instagram handle is: https://www.instagram.com/yuvan_incense/
Share
TheGreenLiving is reader-supported. When you buy via the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. Learn more.
