Amit reveals, “We knew that if we wanted to sustain the organisation, we had to make it profitable. But, flowers used in temples are considered sacred and so, the biggest hurdle was to convince people to part with the flowers.Their research revealed that every day, about 4. “The novel concept prevented people from discarding the packages thoughtlessly and also made them feel like they were doing something beneficial to the environment. And so, bent on preserving one of the holiest rivers in the county, Amit and Karan set up Help Us Green in 2015 with limited funds and manpower.Conversations can bring about change and Ankit Agrawal, the founder of Help Us Green, can surely vouch for this axiom.However, it’s the sight of flowers being dumped into the river that set him thinking. | CHERYLANN MOLLAN Two Kanpur residents are working towards cleaning the Ganga by recycling temple flowers waste. That’s when this automation scientist reached out to his childhood friend and current Operations Manager of Help Us Green, Karan Rastogi. “Florafoam will be a kind of biodegradable Styrofoam which can replace, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, single-use thermocol.
A social enterprise working towards minimising waste discarded in the Ganga, his foundation achieves its objective by recycling flowers used in temples into useful products such as incense sticks, cones and vermicompost. Ankit’s journey began the day when the Kanpur resident and a friend were sitting on the banks of the Ganges. The duo is eager to use flower waste to create a sustainable alternative to thermocol.“We started off with just `72,000 and two or three female workers. They have successfully raised over a million dollars; have a 21,000 sq. We didn’t even have a facility and used to work in a small space on the outskirts of Kanpur city in exchange for the vermicompost we made,” says Amit. When asked what lies ahead for the organisation, Amit says, “Our goal is to stop temple waste from being thrown into rivers.”The duo pulled off the seemingly impossible by giving their products trendy packaging and making good use of their convincing powers. In the hour we sat there, we saw over 150 people bathe in the river, while many drank the water or collected it in canisters. They have launched two additional plants in Varanasi and Mathura and are now investing heavily in research and development.5 to 6 tonnes of flowers are thrown into the river and the number increases to around 9 tonnes on festive days. So I called him up to find out why so many flowers end up in the Ganga,” says the entrepreneur. Plus, a truck carrying 1. However, tonnes of flowers, which are often coated with chemicals and pesticides, are dumped too,” points out Ankit.
We also want to use the waste to make stationery and other products,” says Rubber Products Suppliers Amit. “When we think of waste entering the Ganga, we think of industrial effluents. Ankit and Karan pose amidst flowers collected from temples. “Karan used to visit temples in Kanpur regularly. The initial days were full of struggle. ft. “We also found out that there were no government policies or measures in place to restrict, minimise or treat the discarded floral waste,” rues Amit. But our short-term goal is to employ at least 5000 women. Eventually, more and more temple authorities were willing to come on board,” shares Amit. “It was Makar Sankranti and bathing in the Ganga on this day is considered as auspicious.Help Us Green started with recycling 18 kilograms of flowers per day and now ‘flowercycles’ over 38 tonnes of temple flowers a day. The water was filthy and I told my friend, that it was the government’s fault that nothing was being done,” remembers Ankit.33rd Day Of Lockdown Total Cases 26,283 THE ASIAN AGE. The breakthrough, however, came about when they created ‘Yagya’ a branch of products whose packaging was made of seed paper and boasted the image of a deity. facility with a 15-member team and also employ 73 women full time
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