This news is by Empower Young Journalist Gurpreet Kaur
Guwahati 4 May: Six young girls from Assam developed a biodegradable Yoga mat from Water Hyacinth. Deepor Beel is recognized as a wetland of international importance (Ramsar site) and a bird wildlife sanctuary in southwest of Guwahati.
Water Hyacinth is a very invasive aquatic plant that affects lake hydrology by increasing evapotranspiration (loss of water from land by evaporation and by plant transpiration). It also grows so vigorously forming a thick mat over the waterbody. This adversely affects the biodiversity of the waterbody as it prevents the entry of sunlight and oxygen into the waters. Unless checked their growth can destroy the wetland ecosystem.
Six young girls from Assam have developed a biodegradable yoga mat from water hyacinth. These girls belong to the fishing community living at the edges of Deepor Beel. Their invention can aid in environmental conservation and sustainability of Deepor Beel while ensuring the local livelihood. The mat is known as ‘Moorhen Yoga Mat’ and is named after Kam Sorai (Purple Moorhen or Swamphen, a resident bird of the wildlife sanctuary). The mat will soon be introduced as a unique product to the world market. This invention was supported by North East Centre for Technology Application and Research (NECTAR).
The first step in the process of making this mat is to dry and prepare water hyacinth. In a place like Assam where the rainy season is 6 months long (May – October) drying of the plant can take a lot of time. So, solar dryers were introduced which reduced the drying time to 6 days.
The dried Hyacinth is then woven using traditional Assamese loom. This is followed by natural dyeing from locally available natural material. The packaging of the Moorhen mat is also done in a cotton canvas cloth bag, to be in sync with biodegradability.
