Instead of allowing the beautiful blossoms used in Bathukammas to languish in lakes and makeshift water tanks or end up as waste in landfills, the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) has come up with an innovative solution to turn floral waste into bio-waste. By identifying four locations, two each in Hanamkonda and Warangal, the civic body is actively procuring these discarded flowers to turn them into valuable bio-waste.
Bathukamma festivities are conducted on a large scale in Warangal, which is regarded as Telangana's cultural capital. According to Chief Municipal Health Officer (CMHO), GWMC, Dr. B. Raja Reddy, four locations, two each in Hanamkonda and Warangal localities within the civic body's jurisdiction, have been designated for this purpose, in addition to the Balasamudram biowaste unit.
"We are estimating around five tonnes of flower waste per day during the nine-day Bathukamma festivities," he said. "Considering this, our sanitation workers visit the colonies and collect the flower waste to dump at these designated places, where it will be turned into biowaste." He added that it usually takes 21 days to turn into biowaste, while the mechanised process at the Balasamudram plant takes seven days. The bio-waste will be treated by two biogas plants. "We are attempting this on a pilot basis following instructions from our Commissioner Chahat Bajpai," Mr. Raja Reddy added.
With significant amounts of floral waste generated in residential areas and community centres, the safe disposal of this flower waste has become a pressing concern, as it is often carelessly dumped into waterbodies.
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