Chandigarh-based youth organisation to recycle used 'Diyas' in Diwali

The citizens are also contributing their efforts in saving the planet while the government is taking up initiatives and putting in place the necessary policies to keep the environment clean. A youth welfare association from Chandigarh has come up with a solution to recycle used 'diyas' (earthen lamps) for the upcoming Diwali festival celebrated in India. The youth welfare has thought of collecting used 'diyas' a day after Diwali and selling them in the market. The money made by selling them will be invested in educating needy children.

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'Instead of discarding them, we thought of collecting all the earthen lamps'

Founder of the welfare association, Rohit speaking to news agency ANI said, "I noticed that after the Diwali puja, the Municipal Corporation and other authorities break them into pieces and discard them. So instead of discarding them, we thought of collecting all the earthen lamps day after the Diwali. The 'diyas' is used in every house during Diwali and people tend to throw them after the rituals are over. In this regard, we contacted the cleaners and the municipal corporation to plan everything out."

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'Profit will be invested in the education of needy children'

Rahul continued to share that the used earthen lamps will be painted before selling them in the market which will be collected for the education of children. "We are colouring the lamps that we collected last year and this year too we will collect the lamps. In the process, the lamps will be left in the water for three days and then left to dry in the sun. Then we will paint them with two coatings of paint and later sell them in the market. The profit from this business will be invested in the education of needy children. We have 30,000 'diyas' and will sell them in Rs. 30. If we have full support from society, then approximately we will earn Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 80,000," he said.

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With the zero use of plastic initiative in mind, the organisers have also decided to give earthen lamps in a jute bag. "I want people to encourage the usage of eco-friendly items. We have tried to avoid the usage of plastic bags as we plan to give the 'diyas' in eco- friendly bags and jute bags."

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