Ghaziabad temple turns flower waste into biogas

Shipra Sun City Shiv Temple in Ghaziabad has set an example of bio conservation by turning tonnes of waste flowers into eco-friendly gas fuel. The method of sending a strong message to protect the environment has been lauded by the locals.

Ghaziabad: The floral offerings at the Shipra Sun City Shiv Temple float in the muddy waters of the pond or nearby lake and choke the water bodies. Offered with immense faith by the devotees, these beautiful flowers, which form an integral part of Hindu prayers, are cursed to slow decay. If not thrown in a lake, the devotees leave them as offerings outside the temple and later on, they are thrown into trash cans and taken to dumping grounds. Disposal of flowers in the dumping grounds and lakes pose a great threat to the environment, pollute the rivers and causes irreversible damage.

In an attempt to dispose of the waste in an eco-friendly manner, the Uttar Pradesh temple authorities has set up a biogas plant in which decayed flowers are used to produce biogas and fertilizers. With the help of the biogas, prasad is also prepared and fertilizers are used in the temple garden. The innovative method of bio conservation coined by the committee of Shipra Sun City Shiv temple in Indirapuram has received wide appreciation. Indirapuram is an urban suburb under Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh.

"We receive a lot of flowers every day and all of them used to go the trash cans and get added to the waste piles in landfills. We thought of doing something in which flower waste could be used to help the environment and hence we decided to produce biogas," said Vinay Mishra, the temple priest.

The cost of installing a biogas plant was around Rs 2.50 lakh rupees which was borne by the temple committee.

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Explaining the mechanism of the biogas plant, Mishra said, "The flowers are put in the biogas plant which is converted into bio-fertilizer within 24 hours. We have set up a biogas plant on the temple's terrace where we store the decayed flowers. The gas generated out of the decomposing waste is collected in the little gas tank positioned above the plant."

"The temple authorities were upset over the fact that the milk, flowers offered to Lord Shiva were being dumped into the rivers and polluting the environment. We called a meeting of the core committee and discussed the issue. It was then decided that we will install a biogas plant and use the gas for cooking of our temple prasad. It takes three weeks for a full tank of flowers to decompose without the presence of oxygen and generate fuel called biogas, " said Rabindranath Roy, temple trustee.

Biogas is considered to be a renewable resource because its production-and-use cycle is continuous, and it generates no carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which can trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to global warming.

Sending out a positive message to maintain a balance between tradition and environment, the temple plans to upgrade the size of the gas-generating plant and is looking for more options to make the temple more 'green' and 'eco-friendly'.

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