Bhubaneswar, Oct 20:Air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution and environmental pollution as a whole, is trigerring global warming and abnormal climate change. It’s why the planet earth is gradually becoming uninhabitable for some rare species of plants and animals.
At the same time, man made pollution viz- massive use of plastic, carbon fuels,inorganic pest-control chemicals even the cultural wastes as if,the wrap-up ceremonies of Dusshera and Laxmipuja during immersion , are adding more to the concerning woes.
Thereafter comes the Diwali, the festivity of light and fireworks when the almost clean sky receives massive unclean air with smoky effervescence mostly saturated with carbon, sulphur, zink, Barium and phosphorus nitrate. Sometimes some highly brilliant fireworks contain toxic heavy metals like lead and strontium, that release toxic gases to the immediate environment after diffusion.
Despite mass sensitization and frequent alert of the environmental watch-dogs, trillion tons of firecrackers are detonated during Diwali in India,that brings concern for the mother earth.
Underlining the impending climatic concern of the environmental watch-dogs and green-earth ambassadors, the Supreme Court of India ruled to optimise firecrackers in the Diwali along with other social and cultural celebrations. Thus, minimising use of firecrackers and opting out the environmental-friendly fireworks with less intensity of heavy metals, toxic gases and sound, became the need of the hour to deal with the environmental pollution and climatic hazards triggered due to popping off traditional crackers. Meanwhile, the concept of green cracker came to light, that became an one-liner solution for the long-last problem that’s bursting firecrackers of low intensity with eco-friendly intensities.
Thus, the green crackers are fireworks developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI). These are made by reducing the size of the shells, eliminating ash, using fewer raw materials, and adding dust-suppressing additives.
The significant changes in particles and compounds are said to result in at least a 30 per cent reduction in particulate matter (PM) and a further 10% reduction in gaseous emissions, such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NO2), compared to traditional or conventional crackers.
Each packet of green crackers has a verified QR code that identifies it as ‘green’. Anything without this QR code is not a green cracker, warn the CSIR-NEERI authorities.
Green crackers were developed after the Supreme Court’s intervention many years ago, raising concerns over public health emergencies during Diwali. Air Quality in Delhi-NCR plunged to life-threatening ‘severe’ or ‘hazardous’ (AQI 500+) levels during Diwali in 2016 and 2017.
This led to the landmark 2018 Supreme Court judgment established a fundamental principle that cultural practices cannot supersede the Fundamental Right to Life (Article 21).
The Court banned traditional firecrackers that use harmful heavy metals such as barium nitrate, and directed manufacturers to develop less-polluting alternatives.
CSIR started developing green crackers after this order. The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), under the Union Commerce Ministry, was given the mandate to test the efficacy of the final product.
In conventional firecrackers, chemicals such as barium, sulphur, potassium nitrate, and aluminium are used to produce bright colours and loud noises. They also release heavy metals and toxic gases into the air.
But green crackers exclude barium compounds, and have drastically reduced aluminium and sulphur content. They rely on cleaner oxidisers and formulations that limit the release of harmful particulates.
Green crackers are available in familiar forms such as flower pots (anaar), pencils, sparklers (phuljhadi), bombs, and chakkars, but with modified chemistry.
According to Explosives Safety Organisation (ESO),three types of green crackers have been developed so far. They are SWAS (Safe Water Releasable), STAR (Safe Thermite Cracker), and SAFAL (Safe Minimal Aluminium), which produce brightness and sound comparable to conventional firecrackers (around 100 to 120 dB), while reducing particulate matter (PM), SO2, and NO2 emissions by at least 30 per cent.
Green crackers have two mandatory features introduced by CSIR-NEERI. They are the official Green Fireworks logo printed on the packaging, and a unique QR code that can be scanned using the ‘CSIR-NEERI Green QR Code’ mobile app.
Scanning the code provides details about the manufacturer, formulation, and NEERI certification status of the product.
Only crackers that have both the logo and the QR code are authorised for sale and use.
However, the newly formulated green crackers are not entirely pollution-free.As mentioned above, these crackers emit almost 30 per cent less particulate matter in a lab setting that may vary in other environmental conditions.
Thus, the environment experts’ resolve on the critical issues is, fighting environmental pollution, global warming and climate change, is not an oneman show. It’s the common interest of the community to keep their planet earth green, clean and livable, becoming instrumental in observing social fests with utmost care i.e at best with natural, biodegradable and eco-friendly substances.Eliminating firecrackers on a Diwali may not make any difference for someone but it matters a lot to the green environment, in keeping up the bio-diversities of the mother nature healthy.
