Mullick Ghat flower waste to power perfume, abir and incense industry
Times of India | 10 April 2025
12 Kolkata: A huge volume of flowers that goes to waste daily at Mullick Ghat, the city's wholesale flower market off Strand Road near Howrah Bridge, may be processed for use in manufacture of natural incense, perfume and abir. The Kali Temple at Dakshineswar used to operate such a plant till the pandemic.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) project and development department is in talks with the state horticulture department and Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) authority to process the flowers discarded by vendors at the wholesale flower market after the day's business.
"According to our survey, there are around 140 stalls that sell tonnes of different varieties of flowers every day. In addition, there are several other traders who occupy Netaji Subhas Road during busy office hours. Together, these traders waste huge amounts of flowers at the end of the day due to lack of proper preservation procedures. We can step in to prevent this waste of flowers by turning them into utility products that will also fetch the traders some revenue," said a KMC official.
A source in the KMC solid waste management department said the department collects two truckloads of waste flowers from Mullick Ghat flower market and transports the same to Dhapa dumping ground every day.
According to a civic official, they will be keen to know how such a flower processing plant successfully functioned at Dakshineswar Kali temple premises, which used to process a huge amount of floral waste. "For seven years, we operated the flower processing unit successfully, which would take care of floral waste. But when the pandemic happened, we had to shut the plant as devotees were not allowed to bring flowers inside the temple complex due to the Covid protocol," said Kushal Chowdhury, chairman trustee board of the temple.
The temple committee set up a flower processing plant to address the floral waste, aiming to convert it into fertiliser and other eco-friendly products. According to a KMC official, installing a flower processing plant at Mullick Ghat is part of the modernisation of the flower market. "The wholesale flower market that supplies flowers to the entire city lies in shambles. Frequent accidents are taking place for want of a proper concrete passage inside the core market area. We have devised a plan for the upgrade of the market in association with the state horticulture department and the KoPT authority," said a KMC official.
"We have plans to build multi-storey buildings to accommodate the flower stalls and create a hygienic environment for both the buyers and sellers," said a KMC official.