 "Diwali 2023: Are green crackers really ‘eco-friendly’?")
Diwali is just around the corner and the people in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) are already breathing toxic air. Mumbai’s air has also been a cause of concern. As bursting fireworks during the festival of lights further worsens the air quality, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (7 November) said its order on crackers applies to the entire country, not just the NCR.
In October 2018, the apex court banned the use of barium salts in fireworks, along with the production and sale of ‘joined crackers’. The top court had previously halted using antimony, lithium, mercury, arsenic and lead in firecrackers. In 2019, the Supreme Court said only ‘green’ crackers and those with reduced emissions can be sold.
What are these green crackers and how ‘green’ are they really? Let’s take a closer look.
Green crackers
Touted as “eco-friendly”, green crackers are said to cause lesser air and noise pollution as compared to traditional fireworks.
These crackers were first developed by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in 2018.
According to CSIR-NEERI, there is a smaller shell, no ash, and low usage of raw materials in green crackers. They also release water vapour, which works as a dust suppressant.
Dr Rakesh Kumar, former director of the CSIR-NEERI, told Indian Express earlier that green crackers “do not contain harmful chemicals” that would contribute to air pollution.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThese crackers emit about 30 per cent less noise as compared to conventional crackers, noted BusinessLine.
There are three types of green crackers: SWAS, SAFAL and STAR. SWAS means “safe water releaser”. It does not use sulphur or potassium nitrate and when burst, the cracker release water in the form of vapour.
STAR, or safe thermite cracker, is also free from potassium nitrate and sulphur. It is less noisy and emits less particulate matter (PM) in the air.
In SAFAL or safe minimal aluminium, CSIR reduced the usage of aluminium, replacing it with magnesium.
In March 2019, the Supreme Court allowed the manufacturing of green crackers but with a rider. These crackers should not have barium nitrate. The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), which comes under Union commerce ministry, told the apex court at the time that these green crackers produced less particulate matter by 25-30 per cent compared to conventional crackers, according to a Mint Lounge report.
These crackers can be identified by a QR code and a CSIR-NEERI-certified green logo on their packaging.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court on firecracker ban this Diwali: What's allowed, what's not?
Are green crackers environment-friendly?
Experts are not so sure. Even with a 30 per cent reduction in PM levels, the pollution caused by green crackers would still be high, pulmonologist Dr Sundeep Salvi told Deccan Herald (DH) last year.
Dr Salvi, who was a part of the team that monitored firecracker pollution levels in Pune a few year back, said: “People bursting crackers directly and those watching in the vicinity are heavily exposed to pollutants in their breathing zone. We found that burning a sparkler alone generated PM2.5 levels of 5000 micrograms/cubic metre. Even if green crackers reduce this by 30 per cent, it would be way above the safety limit of 25 microgram/cubic metre.”
In 2020, Randeep Guleria, the then head of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, told NDTV that any cracker that produces smoke is “harmful”. “Even green crackers at times produce noxious gases that can also cause acute effect as far as lungs are concerned.”
Green crackers can only be produced by manufacturers registered with NEERI. As they are costlier, people still continue to buy traditional fireworks.
Moreover, there is still not much clarity on how effective the restrictions on firecrackers have been.
AR Bhaskar Raj, owner of Ramsons Fireworks, one of the major manufacturers in Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi – the capital of firecrackers in India – told Lounge in 2020 that nearly every producer uses barium which gives the green colour to the cracker when it bursts. Raj claimed that green crackers do not work without barium and attempts to do so were “a failure”. “It works in the lab but isn’t commercially viable. If anyone is saying otherwise, that’s not true.”
In 2021, Mumbai-based NGO Awaaz Foundation found that crackers claiming to be ‘green’ openly listed barium nitrate as a component. “Few have QR codes alongside the CSIR NEERI stamp of green crackers but QR codes are not registered to NEERI and are fake. Even banned chemical ‘barium nitrate’ is openly listed on boxes of some packets claimed to be green crackers,” Sumaira Abdulali, convenor of Awaaz Foundation had said, as per a Free Press Journal report.
It is hard to say how much the situation on ground has changed this year. But if you are unsure about how ‘green’ the crackers are, it is better to celebrate the festival by lightning candles and diyas rather than fireworks.
With inputs from agencies
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