Devotion and faith in our country, has been synonymous with religious practices since time immemorial, which is evident from our generous offerings in the form of roses, marigolds, and the million kinds of flowers.
About 80 lakh metric tonnes of flowers are disposed in Ganga every year and when these generous offerings turn into colossal waste, it creates a problem that is detrimental to our environment.
India is a land of religion, where people are accustomed to offering flowers, garlands, coconut, and milk to the deities in the temples, churches, Gurudwara, and mosques as they are considered a symbol of devotion and reverence. Every day, millions of colorful flowers are offered in the name of religion.
While they create a picturesque scenery at that moment, they are later disposed into the rivers, killing fishes and other living beings, creating chaos in the fragile atmosphere and thus causing enormous water pollution.
The students of the Connecting Dreams Foundation, SRCC have come up with an evergreen solution for this problem. Their brand, Esscent by Arpan, is a line of premium flower-based incense sticks that are made from dried flower waste and are 100% charcoal free. Coming in six divine fragrances which include lavender, Rose, Lily, Loban, Jasmine, and Lemon Grass, each box of Esscent is priced at Rs. 120.
They started with the identification of the problem.
After extensive research they discovered that flower waste can be substituted as a component in place of charcoal due to the presence of carbon. This prohibits the release of hazardous carbon monoxide.
After performing market analysis, they then validated the idea by developing a formula and conducted research and lab testing at the Patel Chest Institute. They also sought consultation from experts with regard to the development of our product. Then they started with the manufacturing of the product by employing rural people and specially-abled People.
The transformation of flower waste to incense sticks takes place in multiple stages which includes collection and solar drying of flower waste, combining different components to obtain the paste, hand-rolling of incense sticks, and finally packing them in eco-friendly boxes.
India, a country known for its diversity, often suffers from the problem of providing equal employment opportunities to each and every strata of the society.
Having identified this problem, Esscent employes specially-abled people and rural women who are usually do not get equal employment opportunities. However, Esscent upholding the virtue of compassion ensures the local community connects by empowering and making them self-reliant.
The production process is carried out by a user community comprising special-abled and rural women who are in actual need of income. These women are given the required training and the profits generated will be distributed amongst them. Through the project, they aim to make the unemployed and underprivileged women financially self-sufficient and self-dependent. Customers will be benefitted from the extraordinary and improved quality of the product. The impact created by Esscent is hence, multi-faceted. The project is sustainable, replicable, and scalable and thus our objective is to impact the lives of both the producers and consumers.
The carbon smoke coming out the incense sticks is harmful for the human health. It causes skin diseases like skin cancer, allergies, rashes. Apart from that, it can lead to respiratory diseases including lung cancer. In fact, long term use of regular incense sticks which releases hazardous carbon emissions increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality by 10% and coronary heart diseases by about 12%.
According to the University of North Carolina Researchers, “Incense smoke is as harmful as cigarette smoke.”. It also causes the Genetic Mutation of cells. In order to tackle this problem, Esscent came up with 100% charcoal free incense sticks which leads to cleaner emissions. Tons of flower waste generated each day are thrown into the water bodies which degrades its rich heritage and sacred identity. Thus, by using these flower waste as the main component of our product we aim at revolutionizing this practice and thereby protecting the river bodies from the detrimental problem of water pollution.
1000! Yes, it takes these many years for plastic to decompose. A problem is detrimental to the environment. To tackle this, Esscent incense sticks come in a three-layered eco-friendly Packaging with zero plastic usage, thus, protecting the environment. They not only aim to eliminate excessive usage of plastic but also generate awareness about conserving the environment while giving the product a premium feel.
Most of the industries follow exploitative policy which often puts the burden on the working community. They are not much concerned about the standard of living of the workers and make them work relentlessly for low pay. The Aim of Esscent is to employ specially-abled and rural women and transform them into entrepreneurs. It will help them to be independent and their standard of living will improve. This adds to the employment level in the economy and the income thereof.
All in all, Esscent is a divine offering to Nature accomplishing its objectives of empowering people, conserving the planet, and promising purity.
Visit for more information about Esscent by Arpan.
