January 2008 Edition
Rina Mukherji
Kolkata
INDIA celebrates as many as 13 festivals in 12 months. Yet, every festival leaves behind a trail of waste, most of it flowers. What isn’t used for rituals is left unsold in markets. Eventually, it becomes garbage. These dumped flowers find their way into rivers, streams and ponds and cause water pollution. Jadavpur University’s Department of Chemical Engineering has developed a method of recycling garbage, such as flowers, so that it is put to judicious use.
A brainchild of the present Jadavpur
University pro-vice chancellor and professor in Chemical Engineering,
Siddhartha Datta, the idea was born
out of a need to develop an alternative
to carcinogenic colours used in the
festival of Holi.
Under the University’s Kusumika
project, marigolds (genda) and the
flame of the forest (palaash) were experimented with initially. Aqueous
and solvent extraction methods were
put to use, followed by vacuum or
simple evaporation, depending on
what use it was ultimately aimed for.
This yielded yellow, yellowish orange
and pink colours. For a bright red,
Bixha fruit bulbs were used. For light
pink, the white dopati was used. Holi
colours were the first to be made.
Cloth dyes and scented coloured candles
followed and then a light yellowhued
herbal aloe vera moisturising
cold cream. At the moment, work is
on to make foot and hand massage
creams.
Once the colours were developed in
the University’s laboratory, Prof Datta
and his team decided to widen the
scope of their efforts by including
women in rural areas in collection.
With the help of the Comprehensive
Area Development Corporation
(CADC) working under the aegis of the
Panchayat and Rural Development
Department of the Government of
West Bengal, adivasi women in Purulia were trained in the work.“Since palaash grows wild in the jungles
of north-western Bengal, it was an
ideal location to choose, ”explains Dr
Raghunath Das, technical officer incharge
of CADC.
The enthusiasm of the women was
palpable. “We had asked them to collect
a kilogram of palaash flowers, but
by the time we arrived, they had filled
four rooms with palaash,” Prof Datta reminisces.“The initial idea was to source our palaash from
there. But we soon realised that if we confined our
efforts to collecting flowers, it would be uneconomical.
Besides, a lot will get spoilt in transit.”
Hence, the women were trained to extract the
colour.
The University ran a pilot plant at Bagnan to
check on the pros and cons of scaling up the project.
It proved successful. Right now, the colours are
sent to Amta, Howrah, where they are converted to
dyes, Holi colours, and added to the earlier developed
aloe vera herbal cream by an NGO, Morami Human Development Society, of which Dr Das is
the secretary. Morami has also started dyeing
materials like wool and silk for uttariyos (a type of
shawl), though not on a commercial scale.
Talks are already afoot to sell the technology to industrial units through the CADC and the state government. At the moment, the University is selling the products through an outlet at its Centre for Rural and Cryogenic Studies where Prof Datta is director. Commercial marketing is yet to begin, although word of mouth has already helped sell around 500 kg of abir/gulal during Holi, several jars of cold cream and a good number of scented candles. An international NGO, Ten Thousand Villages, has also evinced interest in the products. The project has boosted the income of many rural Adivasi women working through their selfhelp groups under the aegis of CADC. Plans are afoot to train tribal women in Birbhum and Bankura too, along the same lines, says Dr Das. It has also helped farmers get rid of their excess produce in bulk. Around 40 per cent of unsold flowers, which would have been dumped into the river at Mullick Bazaar Ghat, Kolkata’s wholesale market hub, have been recycled instead. This is the Kusumika project’s biggest success.
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