Don’t follow the herd and opt for plaster. Make a standout Ganesha idol using vegetables, leaves

You can make your own eco-friendly Ganpati using bhindi, coconut shell, bamboo... even aaloo-pyaaz

You know PoP is not the answer, but you want your Ganesha to be special, beautiful and inspiring. Well, this is one time you can have your modak and eat it too. Try these quirky alternatives to Plaster of Paris and celebrate Ganeshotsav by being a remover of obstacles yourself.

You can make a ladies finger Ganesha using clay and vegetable dye.(Photo credit: Lakshmi)

Vegetables

You can make a ladies finger Ganesha out of actual ladies finger or, as above, use clay and vegetable dye. Either way, your idol will not harm aquatic life.

Watch: How to make your own eco-friendly clay idol

Leaves

Make an elegant Ganesha out of large leaves, and just let it go with the flow on visarjan day.

Coconut shell and leaves

(Hindu-blog.com)

The unique idol above is made from coconut and palm leaves.

And this one purely from coconut shell.

You can go big and elaborate too...

...as with this rather dapper Ganesha made from bamboo fronds.

Or the cornucopia of vegetables above -- look closely and you’ll see the ingredients are no more complicated than aaloo-pyaaz-kaakdi-frenchbean.

This idol was made entirely of jackfruit, at the MahaGanapathi temple in Bengaluru.

Or indeed this one made entirely from kitchen utensils... which we’re assuming can eventually be immersed and stacked away.

So don’t follow the herd this Ganeshotsav. Look around, do a little shopping and create something that you can worship with reverence and immerse with pride.