The temple, where flowers offered by devotees, among other items, are processed in the machine daily, has now produced its first batch of manure.

The composting machine, which has two iron tanks with a capacity of 100kg each, generates around 450kg of compost every month. The temple uses it to maintain a nearby garden.

Hari Iyer, honorary secretary of the temple, said the idea to install a composting system came up because the flowers that were offered in the temple were being dumped in public garbage bins.

“We would also like to install rainwater harvesting before the onset of monsoon and reserve a portion of our garden for growing organic vegetables,” said Iyer. TN Balasubramanian, vice-president of the temple, said the first batch of manure that the machine generated is more than the amount they require for the garden and they would sell the excess manure to devotees.

“It was with the help of corporate funding that we managed to install these machines in the temple premises. But, the intention of installing these was that if people see a temple is using green measures, other temples will replicate a similar model,” said Lalitha Balasubramanian, member of the temple association and head of social initiatives.