231 J. Indian Chem. Soc., Vol. 95, March 2018, pp. 231-234 Value addition to temple waste – A study Raji S.* a , D. D. Sarode a , Suhel Gholap b and Swapnil Gangrude b a Department of General Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai-400 019, India E-mail : dd.sarode@ictmumbai.edu.in, ge14s.raji@pg.ictmumbai.edu.in b SSJCET, Asangaon, Shahapur Tal, Thane-421 601, Maharashtra, India E-mail : suhel800@gmail.com, gangrudeswapnil5@gmail.com Manuscript received 15 November 2017, revised 26 February 2018, accepted 07 March 2018 Abstract : The increase in waste generation and the cost of collection, transportation and disposal are the major concern in developing countries. In urban cities the flower waste generated in temples is presently piled at one place or disposed of in nearby water bodies or dumped on land to decay which causes several environmental problems such as water pollution and other health hazards. Temple waste consists of organic waste like flowers, leaves, coconut shells, coconut fiber, pith, waste oil, pieces of cotton wicks, residues or ash of burned incense sticks, etc. which find their way ultimately into bins or some water bodies and thereby resulting pollution. Degradation of floral waste is a very slow process as compared to kitchen waste degra- dation. Therefore, there is a need for proper and environment friendly process of disposal of floral waste. The present study has reviewed various methods reported for the utilization of temple waste. There is a vast scope of using the floral and other wastes as a potential fuel or a replacement material such as wood in the burning process or in Homa Haven. This will have benefits of solving the disposal problem and can mini- mize the use of existing precious source of fuel i.e. wood. Keywords : Temple waste, briquettes, floral waste. I. Introduction Flowers come as waste from various sources like, marriage halls, temples, Dargah and various other cultural and religious ceremonies 1 . In India, religion is a path of life and it is an intrinsic element of the entire Indian culture to offer to God. People worship God and are accustomed to go to the temples offer- ing flowers, fruits, coconuts and sweets, etc. The bulk of the flowers, leaves of different plants, coco- nut shells, milk and curd are piled up and then dis- posed off exclusively in water bodies 1 . Everyday these flowers are offered by devotees in temples, are left after pooja and therefore become waste. In India festivals are celebrated throughout the year that even- tually lead to generation of solid waste. This propor- tion of waste is generally neglected and requires due consideration 1 . Thus, the aim of the present paper is to review various options reported for the utilization of temple waste. A study has been conducted on disposal of temple waste at Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. Temple has its own system for disposal of large quantity of waste resulting from offerings by devotees; the floral waste generated in the temple is converted into manure 2 . To avoid ill effects caused by disposal of these offerings, they can be reused to make some valuable products from these wastes. Burning of incense sticks produces smoke (fumes) which contains Particulate Matter (PM), gaseous products and many organic compounds, therefore flower petals obtained from temples can be used to make herbal incense sticks. Flowers like Genda (Mari- gold) are used to make incense sticks, while roses are converted to rose water 1 . Besides incense sticks and rose water, the flowers can also be incorporated