College Students Recycle Flower Waste into Organic Dyes, Help Destitute Women Earn a Livelihood

  July 31, 2021

A group of college students from South Delhi's Aryabhatta college has started a unique initiative. They call it Project Palaash. Project Palaash aims to salvage floral waste and create organic dyes that are purely non-synthetic in nature. These organic dyes are then used on fabrics. These fabrics are dyed by the socially and economically underprivileged, thereby creating employment opportunities for destitute community members. These women entrepreneurs undergo skill development training for dyeing and block printing on fabrics. Finally, the dupattas and scarves manufactured under project Palaash are sold directly to the customers through stalls set up at college fests, cultural fares, and handicraft outlets. This in turn facilitates the promotion of sustainable fashion. This way, the project tries to uphold the trend of fashion by taking into account both environmental and socio-economic aspects by improving all the stages of production and recycling for the sustainable management of resources. Project Palaash has successfully created employment opportunities while curbing the menace of water and soil pollution. It ensures an effective waste management mechanism as the bio-waste generated from the dyeing process is used to create compost which is reutilised for growing flowers. The wastewater generated during the preparation of the dye vat is used to water plants ensuring sustainability.

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