Recycle corn husks into useful products for life

Corn husks, sesame shells, and grass leaves have been “revived” by skillful hands into valuable raw materials, flowers, and works of art. Members of Xavia Corn Husk Flower Workshop (Xuan La, Tay Ho District, Hanoi ) wish to reduce waste and recycle it into valuable items.

According to Ms. Nguyen Trang Phuong, founder of Xavia Corn Husk Flower Workshop, to make art products from corn husks, leaves, fruit peels... she has gone through many years full of difficulties.

From her field trips, she interacted with ethnic minorities, learned about the value of traditional agricultural products to take advantage of recyclables. She discovered that seemingly discarded plants and grasses could be recycled into valuable products.

Ms. Nguyen Trang Phuong has made art products from corn husks, leaves, fruit peels...

Initially, it was corn husks, a material that is abundant but discarded every day. With the thin but very durable and tough layers of corn husks, Ms. Trang Phuong tried to make flowers. But things were not simple, she had to spend another 6 years studying and researching in the field of chemistry to find the process of bleaching and drying corn husks and some other types of grass, leaves and seeds. The process of processing raw materials is completely manual and uses lime water, rice water, baking soda, salt... to limit the creation of wastewater affecting the environment.

"We have to collect the materials in season, then dry and soak them for about 15 days. Continue drying and classifying the materials according to products: making flowers, weaving baskets, teaching crafts... Then we start dyeing, making flowers and other works of art.

"All the materials that were thought to be waste have continued a beautiful life cycle: corn husks protect the corn kernels to keep them full, sesame shells embrace the sesame seeds to keep them plump, leaves provide oxygen and beautify life... have turned into artistic flowers, into bags, jars, and baskets of high value for life," Ms. Trang Phuong shared.

The product is well received and loved by many people.

Unlike many other artificial flowers made from other materials that are difficult to decompose, flowers made from corn husks are very easy to decompose after they are no longer usable. That is also the way Ms. Phuong and her colleagues express their respect for nature, to reduce waste, and spread the message of environmental protection. From flower products, trays, baskets, vases... the workshop has brought income to skilled workers, including disabled children and vulnerable women.

From 2019 to now, the workshop has had 15 production facilities and showrooms in all provinces/cities of Vietnam, accompanying more than 300 units, implementing 500 programs to kindergartens and educational centers across the country. Inanimate leaves, fruit peels or blades of grass are brought back by nature lovers to be bleached and dried through a strict product safety process. Chlorophyll and mold have disappeared and replaced the leaves and grass with new coats of eye-catching colors that last forever.

From flower products, trays, baskets, vases... the workshop has brought income to skilled workers, including disabled children and disadvantaged women.

Faced with the enormous pressure from the amount of waste discharged in daily production and living, more and more methods are being proposed to treat waste. In particular, waste recycling is a familiar concept. Waste recycling is simply understood as the reuse and processing of discarded waste into new materials with different applications to serve the needs of human life and production.

Thereby minimizing the harmful effects of environmental pollution. Not only partly solving the environmental pollution, waste recycling also creates new material products to serve activities in life and production.

"It can be seen that recycling waste is one of the extremely practical measures to contribute to protecting the living environment. Each of us needs to be aware of preserving the living environment and recycling waste within our ability to serve the needs of life," said Ms. Trang Phuong.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/tai-che-vo-bap-ngo-thanh-nhung-san-pham-huu-ich-cho-cuoc-song-20250304102118576.htm