Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and four women’s self-help groups are processing floral waste from this year’s Ganesh festival into incense sticks, dhoop, scented powder and compost at a project in Dapodi, offering the city a way to reduce water pollution while creating income for women workers.
The facility has been operational for the past year and handles nirmalya, the flowers and garlands discarded after religious worship. Women from self-help groups collect the material from temples, the flower market in Pimpri and households before it is sorted for processing.
The municipal corporation’s health department said 294 metric tonnes of nirmalya were generated in Pimpri-Chinchwad during this year’s Ganesh festival. The material is being segregated and will be used to make incense products and compost instead of being mixed with general waste.
For the festival, the civic administration arranged separate nirmalya collection and sorting facilities at immersion points. The self-help groups also collected nirmalya from homes. Flowers are separated from the collected material and processed into scented powder, dhoop sticks and incense sticks, while the remaining organic material is used to prepare compost.
The initiative links festival-waste management with the city’s wider municipal sanitation system. Religious flowers are generated throughout the year at temples and other places of worship, in addition to the seasonal increase during festivals. Without separate collection, such waste can enter mixed garbage streams or be disposed of in rivers, lakes and drains.
The health department said preventing nirmalya from entering water bodies helps reduce pollution during immersion periods. The civic body has prohibited the disposal of nirmalya in rivers and drains and has directed residents to deposit it in designated collection tanks at immersion sites.
The project also creates a local processing and livelihood chain. The four women’s groups are involved in collection, sorting and production, and the municipal health department said the work is helping strengthen their financial position. Compost produced at the facility is sold at a low price for use in public gardens, private gardens, greenery within housing societies and agriculture.
The Dapodi project therefore treats nirmalya as a separate resource rather than only as a disposal problem. Its operation depends on residents keeping floral waste separate, collection systems functioning at immersion points and the continued participation of the self-help groups.
The municipal corporation’s next step is to process the 294 metric tonnes collected during this year’s Ganesh festival into incense products and compost through the Dapodi facility.
