India, Aug. 22 -- Onam festivities (August 16-26) are underway, and Delhiites who celebrate the 10-day harvest festival are busy making vibrant floral arrangements, Pookalams. But, after the grand festivities wrap up, the flowers usually end up in trash, turning festive cheer into environmental waste. To combat this, some student collectives and eco-foundations in the Capital are encouraging people to take the recycling route. "We must contribute to improve the environmental of our city," says Ashutosh Patnaik, a Delhi University student who is part of Hansraj College's Enactus. He adds, "Through project Mehr, we collect floral waste from temples and homes to make products like natural colour dyes, potpourris and compost... Once these are collected, we team up with an NGO working with transgender community to make new products out of these." Floral waste in landfills decomposes and releases methane, which is "six times more potent and toxic than carbon dioxide" informs Anurag Kashyap, from Gulmeher Foundation. He adds, "We convert the collected, dried flowers into handcrafted products such as stationery, accessories, and even natural rangoli colours. This also helps in providing employment opportunities to the underprivileged."...