Narrator: Each garland in this garbage truck
started as an offering to the gods.
After they're used in worship,
tons of them get dumped into rivers or the sea every day
alongside other religious leftovers,
like idols immersed in waterways at yearly festivals.
Now, a handful of startups are proving they can make money
by turning flower waste into natural dyes, incense,
and products sold by international brands.
So far, these companies have together handled
thousands of tons of temple leftovers.
Can this upcycling keep rivers clean
while respecting an ancient practice?
We went to India
to see how entrepreneurs are cashing in on sacred flowers.
Dadar flower market is one of the largest in Mumbai.
The main customers are smaller vendors
who weave them into garlands to sell elsewhere,
like outside the nearby Siddhivinayak temple.
But about 40% of the flowers produced in India
don't actually sell,
including these ones piling up behind the market street.
The offerings that do make it inside temples pose
another challenge.
Most Hindus consider it disrespectful
to throw them in the trash,
opting to return them to nature instead.
Some people bury leftover offerings
in gardens or flower pots.
Others leave them out for animals to munch on.
But for temples that have to dispose of tons of offerings,
they often have few options
besides dumping them in local waterways,
which in India are already contaminated
with industrial pollution and raw sewage.
Even though flowers are natural,
tossing tons of them into the water has consequences.
Pesticides and other harmful chemicals
sprayed on flower crops can affect water's pH.
And as bacteria eat the organic waste,
they use up oxygen, putting the entire ecosystem at risk.
Rupa Trivedi grew up offering flowers at temples.
She started to pay attention
to the impact of religious waste about 15 years ago.
So she started Adiv Pure Nature
to turn flowers into natural dye for clothing.
Rupa: I thought that if I could recycle
and reuse something out of it,
even if it'll be only a drop in the ocean,
even a drop will make a difference.
And I really wanted to set up a business
which had some soul in it
and which could always represent that soul to the world.
Narrator: Ulhas, one of Rupa's employees,
is stationed outside the temple for a few hours every day.
He disassembles garlands
and sorts the flowers by color.
Twice per week, another worker, Chiman,
travels 15 kilometers each way to collect used offerings.
The temple parts with the flowers for free.
But Rupa says paying workers to sort
and collect temple offerings actually costs more
than buying new flowers for her fabrics.
Rupa: It is definitely more expensive.
The purpose is that they are temple blessings
that are recycled.
And so there is a definite meaning to the flowers here.
Narrator: At the workshop in Mumbai,
workers unload the haul.
They separate petals from the stems by hand.
Priti: So the marigolds are segregated,
and they're converted into petals,
and then it's kept for drying.
Narrator: Marigolds are one of the most popular flowers.
In Hinduism, they're said to be beloved
by many different deities.
Each flower has several meanings.
It's believed gods and goddesses each have their preferences,
like hibiscus for Ganesha, holy basil for Vishnu,
or pink lotus for Lakshmi.
Adiv's process uses a combination of fresh and dried petals,
which workers lay here to dry out.
Meanwhile, others take on the more technical task
of preparing the fabrics.
The dyeing team weighs the material
and calculates the rest of the recipe.
They measure out other ingredients
that help color attach to fibers
and then add it all to hot water.
Once it reaches about 60 degrees Celsius,
or 140 degrees Fahrenheit,
it's ready.
The dyers lay out the damp fabric and begin applying petals.
This is the core technique that we've come up with,
which is called the eco-print.
Narrator: This steamer helps the natural pigment
transfer to the fabric.
Mukhtar and Tabassum have each worked here
for more than a decade.
Narrator: The team washes the fabric in water
and hangs it on a line to dry.
Some natural dyes have unexpected results,
like red roses,
which can actually turn fabric blue
with the right techniques.
And every time I've showed this as a scarf to anyone,
they are just kind of flabbergasted that,
how can you get red roses be this color?
Narrator: These roses mainly come
from the Haji Ali mosque,
where they were used as decorations.
Rupa says the mosque provides
up to 100 kilograms of flower waste each week,
while the Siddhivinayak temple can provide
that much in a single day.
Adiv used to send its petals to a local composter,
but the pandemic put a pause on that.
We have no option but to throw them away.
And I am hoping that maybe even very shortly,
we'll again be able to do what we were doing before.
Narrator: So for now, the petals still end up in the trash,
but not polluting waterways or littering the streets.
From here, the dyed fabric heads next door
to the garment-makers.
Altaf has worked here for 17 years.
Narrator: Rupa says hiring people
who might have trouble finding work was
one of her main goals when starting the business.
Rupa: I believe that each of us has an artistic quality in us.
It is inherently there, whether dormant or completely alive.
Narrator: Altogether, Adiv processes
about 40 metric tons of petals
from the nearby mosque and temple each year,
not counting the stems, plastic bits,
and other stuff they can't use.
But that's still less than half of the flower waste
those places of worship produce.
Adiv isn't the only business
taking on India's religious leftovers.
Ankit Agarwal founded Phool,
which is the Hindi word for flower, in 2017.
The company turns flower waste into incense.
And I decided to quit my job and come back to Kanpur.
The reaction of the people I knew was I have gone bonkers,
that I want to leave a job as automation scientist
and work with temple flowers.
Narrator: Phool's process also starts with collecting from temples,
followed by sorting, de-petaling, and drying.
Once the pedals are dry,
the team grinds them into a fine powder.
It's mixed by hand with water and essential oils
until it reaches a claylike texture.
Then it's time to roll.
Workers dip their fingers into the flower powder
while rolling to create an even thickness.
The company employs more than 700 women.
Many of them used to work as waste scavengers.
Ankit: We have been able to provide them with health benefits,
insurances, retirement benefits,
and even a busing service.
Narrator: The team lets the sticks dry
before dipping them again in essential oils.
Each worker can produce over 500 incense sticks in an hour.
Ankit says that in the beginning,
temples were reluctant to hand over the sacred flower waste.
So there's this line in the Hindu arti which says, "Tera tujhko arpan,"
which basically means what belongs to the gods
goes back to the gods.
So this is how I used to like convince them
that these flowers don't belong to you or me.
They belong to the gods.
Narrator: They've also started making vegan leather
and a plastic foam alternative from the offerings.
Another company called HelpUsGreen makes
incense and fragrances from flower waste.
Karan: All these flowers are converted
into incense sticks and holy colors
with the help of rural women,
thereby empowering them and providing a better livelihood
for their next generation.
Narrator: Ultimately, flower waste is widespread.
The United States imports
over a billion short-lived blooms each year
just for Valentine's Day.
In India, flower recycling is on the rise.
And these three startups handle
thousands of tons of the waste annually.
Over time, that can make a real dent
in the 2 million tons of loose flowers
the country produces each year.
Meanwhile, other religious rituals have an impact, too.
At annual ceremonies,
believers submerge idols representing Hindu deities
in water.
Afterwards, cleanup crews fish some statues
out of the water.
But it's difficult to get them all.
Those made of clay will dissolve,
but some are made of plaster, which sticks around for years.
They can kill fish and plants
and even block the natural flow of water.
The good news is that awareness of these impacts is
on the rise,
and some people are adapting
by submerging idols in tanks of water
that are easier to clean up.
Rupa says that even though she no longer practices
these rituals herself,
she still sees the beauty in them.
Rupa: Any human who's going in to offer these offerings
to the gods is going with the purest of his heart.
Narrator: One environmental educator said
with increased awareness, people will modify their rituals.
Kailash: Hindus and nature go hand in hand.
Faith teaches us to respect, to protect the environment.
Karan: You can't ask someone to stop doing a practice
which he or she has been doing for generations.
What we can do is make an economy around it
so that everyone benefits.
Narrator: Meanwhile, Indian waterways face
even more pressing problems.
Only about a third of India's urban homes are connected
to a sewer system.
Cities spew 16,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools' worth
of untreated sewage into India's seas and rivers every day.
Rupa says even in challenging conditions,
artistry can thrive.
Rupa: An artisan can be global and universal.
He does not need to reside by the, you know,
beautiful flowing river
and have the trees swaying just outside his workplace.
It can be in this polluted city.
Narrator: At Adiv Pure Nature,
the team uses other waste products as ingredients, too.
Like coconut waste, which can dye fabric pink.
This is what I recycle
by taking them from the coconut vendors on the roadside.
Narrator: The company's main customers have included
US clothing companies like Anthropologie and Eileen Fisher.
Even with big brands on board,
Adiv isn't turning a profit yet.
We have been very lucky to get some very nice buyers
who have constantly kept us going and appreciating our work.
But the company has also been growing along with it.
Expenses have been mounting along with it.
Narrator: But right now, Rupa's mind is on other things.
For the past year, she's undergone treatment for cancer.
So together it has been extremely debilitating
for me myself.
I had come to a point where I would,
I was just talking to my manager
and telling her, "I need to close this down."
Narrator: But her team stepped in
and volunteered to take on her workload.
Rupa's being supporting us all our lives.
So it's now my time to give away my best for her.
So she's been like a mother figure for all of us.
Rupa: They have said that "Ma'am, you are coming back."
And I think that has been my inspiration
just to stay alive.
Let me put it very frankly, you know.
My illness was where it is much more a death sentence
than staying alive.
But I think I'm existing because of this inspiration
that has been with me all the time.