Value addition to temple waste – A study

Department of General Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai-400 019, India E-mail : dd.sarode@ictmumbai.edu.in, ge14s.raji@pg.ictmumbai.edu.in SSJCET, Asangaon, Shahapur Tal, Thane-421 601, Maharashtra, India E-mail : suhel800@gmail.com, gangrudeswapnil5@gmail.com Manuscript received 15 November 2017, revised 26 February 2018, accepted 07 March 2018 The increase in waste generation and the cost of collection, transportation and disposal are the major concern in developing countries. In urban cities the flower waste generated in temples is presently piled at one place or disposed of in nearby water bodies or dumped on land to decay which causes several environmental problems such as water pollution and other health hazards. Temple waste consists of organic waste like flowers, leaves, coconut shells, coconut fiber, pith, waste oil, pieces of cotton wicks, residues or ash of burned incense sticks, etc. which find their way ultimately into bins or some water bodies and thereby resulting pollution. Degradation of floral waste is a very slow process as compared to kitchen waste degra­dation. Therefore, there is a need for proper and environment friendly process of disposal of floral waste. The present study has reviewed various methods reported for the utilization of temple waste. There is a vast scope of using the floral and other wastes as a potential fuel or a replacement material such as wood in the burning process or in Homa Haven. This will have benefits of solving the disposal problem and can mini­mize the use of existing precious source of fuel i.e. wood