Thousands of bamboo plants, destroyed at the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah by Cyclone Amphan in May, are being recycled as sanitiser dispensers.
The cyclone left thousands of bamboo plants and trees uprooted. Even clearing the debris in the garden, spread over 270 acres, proved to be an arduous task. However, an innovative idea emerged from the devastation when an employee made a sanitiser dispenser using the fallen bamboos.
In wake of COVID-19 pandemic several institutions, including the Botanical Survey of India ( BSI), had placed orders for sanitiser dispensers. While the gardens were being cleared, a staffer, C.K. Sharma, thought he could use the bamboo to make a dispenser model for the garden.
“Initially, I did not think that it would work. But when I saw the first prototype, I realised that with some alterations it could actually work. The dispenser is not only now used at the garden or our offices but also in some other organisations in Howrah,” said A.A. Mao, director, BSI.
The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, has lauded the initiative and put up photographs of the dispenser. “The staff of #AJC_Bose_Indian_Botanic_Garden, Howrah came up with an innovative idea of making #sanitizer dispensers from the garden’s very own bamboo culms that were damaged due to #Amphan super-cyclone,” the Ministry had tweeted.
The Ministry said this “indigenously built eco-friendly sanitiser dispenser has gained much popularity among the staff during the prevailing situation of pandemic #COVID-19.”
“More than a dozen such dispensers are distributed in the different establishments of @bsi_moefcc in Kolkata & Howrah region, which are being used not only by the garden but also have been given to a number of institutions,” MOEFCC added.
The garden, set up in 1787 is spread over 273 acres on the banks of the Hooghly and has over 13,000 trees of 1,400 species.
Basant Kumar Singh, scientist at BSI, said that the garden has 28 species of bamboos and certain species like Dendrocalamus giganteus ( Giant Bamboo) have a big culm which has been used in the sanitiser dispenser. The scientist added that the innovation has proved that bamboo can be used as an eco-friendly substitute for metal and plastic without compromising on quality.