EVALUATION AND CONVERSION OF TEMPLE WASTE FLOWERS INTO INCENSE STICKS IN TUMAKURU DISTRICT OF KARNATAKA, INDIA

,


INTRODUCTION
In any waste management process, the 3 R's, i.e., Recycling, Reuse and Recover play a very important role. Environmental degradation, climate change, waste disposal and management, and sustainable development are all significant concerns for human society.
Many temples can be found in India, and they attract a large number of devotees. Flower garlands, vegetables, coconut, sweets, and other edibles are offered to the God by the pilgrims. The edibles are normally taken out to be distributed as prasada to the devotees and consumed by priests, temple administrators, and other temple workers. Non-consumable materials, such as flower garlands, are thrown away after being offered to God.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) usually consists of more degradable materials (> 70 %) that may be responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases in the nature [1]. The nation faces big issue of waste management with rapid urbanisation. More than 377 million urban citizens in India live in 7,935 cities and towns, producing 62 million tonnes (Mt) of MSW per year. Just 43 Mt of waste is collected, 11.9 Mt is treated, and 31 Mt is disposed of at landfills [2]. Of the 62 Mt waste produced, 5.6 Mt is plastic waste, 0.17 Mt is hospital/biomedical waste, 7.90 Mt is hazardous waste, and 1.5 Mt is e-waste. Overall, 75 -80 % of municipal waste is collected and only 22 -28 % of this waste is treated and processed [3]. More than 90 % of Indian MSW is disposed of on land in an unscientific and inappropriate way [4].
India is home to many diverse cultures and religions.
Distinguished by different ideologies, traditions and rituals, the country has a place to worship in every corner although there are numerous religions in India. Temples are considered as the symbol of prayers and worship. There are countless temples situated in every part of the country, producing temple waste/holy waste. Flower waste or floral waste is also considered as one of the MSW. So, its management also plays a key role. It was estimated that around 800 million tonnes of flowers are offered across the temples, mosques, gurudwaras and in other worshiping centres in India [5].
When compared to kitchen waste degradation, floral waste degradation is a very slow process [6]. As a result, a proper and environmentally friendly floral waste treatment process is needed. To prevent the negative consequences of discarding the flower offerings, they can be used to create useful products. Herbal incense sticks may be made from flowers gathered from temples. Incense sticks are made from flowers like genda, and rose water is made from roses. Aside from incense sticks and rose water, the flowers can also be used in herbal items like herbal colours, natural dyes and activated charcoal etc.
At all places of worship, religious events, festive occasions, and weddings, everybody uses agarbatti (incense sticks). This in itself demonstrates how important agarbatti is. Because of the improvement in quality and the expansion of product varieties, the demand for agarbatti is growing both in the domestic and export markets. India is the world's largest producer of agarbatti.
Incense sticks are an integral part of prayer in any Indian household; without them, the puja (ritual) is incomplete. Incense burning, on the other hand, creates air pollution, which can be harmful to one's health, particularly if the room isn't well ventilated; the smoke produced creates toxic gas and particulate matter, which can be a major source of indoor pollutants [7]. In fact, the smoke from incense sticks may be as harmful as cigarette smoke [8]. The chemicals found in the incense being burned determine the form of contaminants emitted into the air. However, according to Jetter et. al. [9], the concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), and sulphur dioxide (SO2) gases contained in incense smoke could be high enough to damage human health. It is important to reduce the amount of air pollution emitted in the smoke by selecting incense made from natural, plant-based ingredients without the addition of harmful chemicals. Incense that is smokeless or low-smoke is preferable over high-smoke incense. It is necessary to avoid using a charcoal briquette to burn resin incense. Additional air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, can be produced by the smoke from burning charcoal [10].
Many researchers have used waste flowers for various purposes (Table 1) to avoid mismanagement, and as a result, it was found that it can be controlled to a large extent. However, there are very few published studies on the conversion of used flowers into incense sticks by way of the analysis of various kinds of flowers and raw materials for making incense sticks using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive Xray spectroscopy (EDS); furthermore, there are no studies on favourable limits of physicochemical parameters for making incense sticks either. Therefore, this is one of the first attempt to show the technical points in making incense sticks from used flowers.

Problems due to mismanagement of flower waste
Since temple offerings are considered sacred, their disposal in landfills is not recommended. Most temples throw waste into local water bodies, such as rivers, ponds and lakes. Presently, in the various regions of India, flowers are discarded into the water bodies in the least eco-friendly manner. About 8 Mt of flower waste are dumped in the Indian rivers each year [11]. The amount of pollution caused by the flowers is immense. Due to the fact that most of the flower waste is thrown directly into water bodies, organic matter present in the flowers decomposes and results in algal blooms and eutrophication in lakes, which can further deplete oxygen levels in the water bodies and cause marine life to die. These decayed flowers may also cause pollution problems on land. This type of activities finally results in the alteration of the ecosystem. There are several temples in the country, particularly those in the Ganga basin, which dump daily waste directly into the river without segregating it into biodegradable and non-biodegradable components. Although industrial runoff in Ganga is not only responsible for the pollution status, floral waste hardly gets all the blame. Floral waste accounts for 16 % of the total pollution of the river [5].

Study area
The Tumkur or Tumakuru district is located in the southern portion of the Karnataka state, on the eastern belt. According to the Census of India 2011 (Karnataka), it covers a total area of 10597 km 2 . In terms of area, it is the third largest district in the state. Tumkur district is the fourth most populous in the state, with a total population of 2678980 people. The district extends 174 km north to south, and 125 km east to west. 10. Flower waste Activated carbon [26] 11. Waste flowers Production of handmade paper [27] 12. Waste flowers Biosorption [28] 13. Red rose Biosorption [29] 14.

Location and size
The district is located between latitudes 12°44' to 14°20' north and longitudes 76° 20' to 77° 31' east. The district's highest and lowest points are at 1000 and 600 m above mean sea level, respectively.

Climate and rainfall pattern
The district's climate is usually pleasant. However, the climate is relatively hot in very few regions. During the summer season, the maximum temperature can reach 40 °C or 41 °C. During the winter season, average minimum temperatures range from 9 to 10 °C. According to KSNDMC Karnataka, Tumakuru district recorded 782 mm of rainfall in 2019, which is 12 % more than its normal value of 697 mm.

Geology and soil
Tumkur district is geologically located on the archaeon complex. The crystalline schists, granitic gneisses, and newer granites reflect the rock formations. The district's soil is usually hard and sparsely fertile. Red soil, black soil, and sandy soil are the most common types of soil found in the district.

Worshiping centres
The Tumakuru district is famous for Sree Siddaganga Math, one of the oldest Gurukulas and a worshipping centre. According to Hindu religious and Charitable Endowments Department, the district has 8 A grade, 10 B grade and 2443 C grade temples and its classification is depending on temple income per year. A grade temple has an annual income of more than 2500000, a B grade temple has an annual income of 1000000 to 2500000, and a C grade temple has an annual income of less than 1000000. List of A Grade temples are given the Table 2. The present study focuses on utilization and conversion of the large volume of waste flowers into sustainable products by applying science techniques and analysis the physicochemical characteristics of the flower samples.
According to door-to-door survey at the temples of Tumakuru city, it has been observed that the storage of all forms of temple waste at the point of generation was not maintained properly and there was no adequate waste segregation, and the waste was contained in poorly maintained dustbins. Waste was sometimes thrown in community bins or dumped on surrounding streets, footpaths, open fields, drains, water sources, bare ground, and so on. This resulted in contamination of land and water, clogging of drains, and a variety of health risks for residents.

Utilization of temple waste flowers
For the present study, waste flowers such as rose, WC, YC, MG, TR and Tulsi were collected from the temples in Tumakuru city, and the following methodology was adopted for the preliminary process:

Analysis of crushed flower samples (CFS)
Mass percentage of moisture content, ash content and volatile content, fixed carbon, bulk density (g/cm 3 ), porosity percentage and specific gravity of all CFS were determined according to standard procedures [26]. The surface morphology and elemental compositions of RP, WCP, YCP, MGP, TRP and TP have been characterized using SEM and EDS. SEM-EDS is operated at 10 kV and 15 kV. Images were taken at magnification 1000 -5000x, with a working distance of 11 -11.5 mm. Carbon tape was used to attach the powder samples to a holder. A thin layer of gold was also applied to the samples to provide an electrically conductive surface.

Physical characteristics of CFS
All the collected flowers were subjected to various physical tests to learn about their suitability in making valuable products and to determine their quality. Results are shown in the Table 3.

SEM and EDS analysis
SEM produces images of a sample surface by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. In the SEM imaging process, the electron gun generates high-energy electrons which are focused into a fine beam, which is scanned across the surface of the specimen. Elastic and inelastic interactions of the beam electrons with the atoms of the specimen produce a wide variety of radiation products, like backscattered electrons, secondary electrons, absorbed electrons, characteristic and continuum X-rays, etc. A sample of this radiation is collected by a detector and the collected signal is amplified and displayed on the computer. SEM-EDS in this study operated at 10 and 15 kV. SEM images were taken at magnification from 1000 to 5000x, with a working distance of 11 -11.5 mm. It is the main technique for the analysis of morphological features, like size, shape, surface composition etc. In the past, SEM and EDS analyses for CFS were seldom performed, but in this study these analyses are more precise and focused on the chemical compositions and microstructures of the samples. Figures 2 -7 show the surface morphology of the CFS. The filament type, cave type and stripe-like textures were observed in the SEM images of CFS and particle sizes range from 3.35 µm to 20.   Table 4 shows the chemical composition of the CFS. From the EDS analysis it can be seen that RP has the highest carbon content (66.98 %) and YCP has the lowest carbon content (37.68 %) compared to other CFS. High carbon percentage contributes to good burning characteristics. In the EDS spectrum, the highest peak represents the highest percentage of element and lower peak represents lower percentage of the respective elements, whereas the X-axis and the Y-axis represent energy and intensity, respectively.

Conversion of flower waste into incense sticks (agarbatti)
The raw materials needed to make incense sticks are CFS, jigat powder (JP), wood powder (WP), and bamboo sticks. Moisture content, ash content, volatile content, fixed carbon, bulk density (g/cm 3 ), porosity percentage and specific gravity of all CFS, WP and JP were determined according to standard procedures and the results are shown in the Tables 3 and 5. The surface morphology and chemical compositions of JP and WP have been determined using SEM and EDS, respectively, and are shown in the Figure 8 and Table 6. From the Table 5 it can be concluded that WP has a higher moisture content, fixed carbon, porosity and specific gravity than JP and JP has a higher values of ash content, volatile matter and bulk density compared to WP.    [23]. Generally, incense sticks made up of charcoal have a higher percentage of carbon and sulphur than CFS. These elements are indirectly responsible for the indoor air pollution. Therefore, the use of eco-friendly incense sticks made of flowers can reduce indoor air pollution to some extent. Flowers are an important part of our religion. However, their disposal presents a significant environmental risk. Since flower offerings are considered sacred, they are not thrown in garbage cans when they wither, but in local water sources or rivers, polluting the water and causing ecological damage. The present study shows the use of the large volume of flower waste to make incense sticks, and provides analysis of the various crushed flowers and their suitability. From the SEM study, it can be seen that filament type, cave type and stripelike textures were observed on the surfaces of crushed flowers. From the EDS analysis, it can be seen that rose flower powder is rich in carbon (66.98 %) and yellow chrysanthemum flower contains less carbon (37.68 %) compared to all crushed flower samples. Also, it was recommended that moisture content should be less than 10 %, ash content less than 15 % and bulk density around 0.20 -0.45 g/cm 3 (crushed flower samples & wood powder) and 0.4 -0.6 g/cm 3 for jigat powder. Incense sticks made of charcoal have a higher percentage of carbon and sulphur than crushed flower samples. These elements may be indirectly responsible for the indoor air pollution. It can be concluded that the use ecofriendly incense sticks made of flowers can reduce indoor air pollution to some extent.
To make sure that devotion does not turn into pollution, floral waste can be further turned into dyes, incense sticks, activated charcoal, food products, sugar syrup, compost, biofuels, biogas, bio ethanol, handmade paper, and other value-added products with a wide range of applications. Governments must play a significant role in raising awareness about temples on this topic, and they should develop creative programmes in various districts to collect and reuse floral waste from various sanctuaries, which will help improve the local economy by creating jobs and making marketable by-products. The disposal of temple waste in public areas, such as streets and bare fields, should be prohibited and temple employees should be encouraged to sort recyclable, biodegradable, and nonbiodegradable waste and store it in designated bins. If we protect and wisely use the floral offerings in our prayers, we will be able to change our lives, beautify our environment, and build a better tomorrow.