Banana plants being used during Diwali. File picture

Jorhat, Oct. 19: Prakriti — Save Nature, a local NGO involved in environment conservation, has taken up a novel plan to convert a large number of banana trees used during the Diwali celebrations into organic fertiliser.

NGO director Samir Ranjan Bordoloi told The Telegraph here today that the organisation has been involved in propagating environment-friendly practices among farmers and schoolchildren. The decision to reuse banana leaves came after they noticed that a huge number of banana trees were cut only to be used for one or two days during Diwali, especially for decorating the entrances of shops and houses.

Bordoloi said the banana trees are a good source for producing vermi-compost and also for organic fertiliser by mixing it with cow dung. He said several thousand banana trees are collected by municipal workers every year and dumped as garbage in the dumping ground near the town. This time, the NGO has asked the Jorhat Municipal Board to provide them with the discarded banana trees collected after Diwali and the municipal board has agreed to do so, he said.

Bordoloi said they have requested the municipal board to unload the leaves in a place outside the town. From there the trees would be taken to nearby villages to be given to farmers and those having vermi-compost units.

He said the organisation has also approached business firms to sponsor or arrange the transportation of the trees as more vehicles will be needed in addition to those which collect garbage.

Municipal board chairman Prasanta Bora said the board would help the NGO in its effort to reuse the banana trees. Bora said he had asked the NGO to carry out an awareness campaign to keep the town clean by asking people not to burst firecrackers on the road.

Bordoloi said on the eve of Diwali, the NGO would take out a procession of school students on their proposed plan of reusing banana plants and not to make the roads dirty by bursting crackers on the road.