Green Crackers

India is a land of celebrations and festivals. There are different ways to celebrate festivals. Firecrackers are used for celebrations in India. In the Diwali festival, everyone enjoys firecrackers. But every time especially during Diwali air pollution increases due to firecrackers and it affects everyone’s health. Air pollution is the most dangerous environmental problem. The causes of air pollution are construction, transportation, mining etc and there are also some natural causes are responsible for air pollution such as wildfires and volcanic eruptions. Firing crackers on Diwali is one more cause of air pollution. To deal with the problem of air pollution the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed crackers that are better than sound-emitting fireworks. The green crackers name comes from the fact that they emit green light or sparkling when they are fired. The firework developed by CSIR includes pencils, flower pots, sparkles, and chakkar. The green crackers are developed as environment-friendly crackers and they reduce air pollution, noise pollution that causes health problems. Green crackers meaning is related to eco-friendly crackers and mostly green crackers give green sparkles. Our nature is full of greenery composting plants and trees. These crackers are developed to maintain stability in nature. The government has provided us with green crackers so we should try to always burst these crackers as it will not create any hazard to the environment.

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                 Image: Image of Green cracker.

Why are Green Crackers Developed?

Many factors were responsible for the creation of green crackers. The major reason for the development of green crackers is air pollution. Traditional crackers are affecting our environment very badly. The level of pollution every year increases during the time of the Diwali festival. So the Government of India decided to give an alternative to traditional crackers to the people. In 2017, the Government decided to put a ban on firecrackers but in October 2018, the Supreme court of India allowed bursting low emission crackers. Thus eco-friendly crackers were researched and developed by scientists at CSIR-NEERI according to the directions of the Supreme Court. CSIR green crackers started getting manufactured in bulk and come to market for sale in 2019. Nowadays many people are not aware of what are green crackers or they do not buy green crackers because they are costly compared to using regular firecrackers. Therefore the government should ban traditional crackers and should give information about eco-friendly crackers.

Green Crackers Composition

Traditional fireworks which are sold in India for a long time are composed of gunpowder and combustible chemicals. These fireworks create striking effects and after ignition, they explode. These crackers are used in festivals and celebrations. The regular fireworks are composed of some main key ingredients such as fuel (charcoal or thermite), oxidising agents (nitrates and chlorates), reducing agents (sulphur), regulators, colouring agents: We see that multiple colours appear after the bursting of cracker bursts this is because of colouring agents. 

Green crackers are normally small in size in comparison to regular firecrackers. They do not contain any chemical which is banned in India such as lithium, arsenic, barium and lead. They do not contain barium nitrate which is declared as the most harmful element present in any normal cracker. Although they are less harmful, they create some noise pollution. The names of three CSIR green crackers developed by the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research are SWAS, STAR & SAFAL. The details of each green cracker's chemical composition are given below.

• SWAS

SWAS is a Safe water release green cracker. It releases water vapour in the environment when it bursts. It does not contain potassium nitrate and sulphur. For gaseous emissions a dilute release. The dust particles reduced by SWAS is around 30 per cent. Safe water releaser crackers have matching sound intensity with general crackers which are in the range of 105-110 dBA.

• STAR

STAR is a Safe Thermite Cracker. These crackers also do not contain potassium nitrate and sulphur. They do not produce sound pollution.

• SAFAL

It is Safe with Minimal Aluminium crackers. The minimum use of aluminium results in the reduction of particulate matter by approximately 35 per cent in comparison to commercial crackers which used to be sold in the market. The sound intensity of these crackers matches with commercial crackers in the 110-115 dBA range.

The product category of green crackers is large; they consist of maroons, atom bombs, flowerpots, pencils and sparkles. All products of these crackers are eco-friendly crackers.

How Harmful are Firecrackers?

Firecrackers are very harmful to human life as well as to the environment also. Firecrackers can develop several severe health effects in people such as breathing problems, heart diseases and nervous system disorders. Firecrackers increase the level of noise pollution very high which is also a dangerous thing for human health. Noise pollution due to firecrackers can cause restlessness, high blood pressure, permanent or temporary hearing loss, and a sleeping disorder. It can also cause poor cognitive development in children. Firecrackers are composed of substances such as carbon monoxide, cadmium, nitrates, chromium, aluminium, magnesium, lead, copper, potassium, sodium, zinc oxide, manganese dioxide etc. which can affect health very badly if inhaled or ingested. Sometimes accidents happen due to fireworks. One can lose his or her eyesight or hearing capacity. The accidents during bursting crackers also include major burns.

Advantages of Green Crackers

• Eco-friendly green crackers contain nitrogen-rich nitrocellulose that can cause less smoke.

• The chemical mixture of green crackers is selected in such a way that they emit less toxic gases.

• If we will use only green crackers then there will be no air pollution during our festivals.

• The green crackers name suggests that this product is for the environment and we are at the stage where environmental pollution is hitting hard on the human lifestyle. We can have a healthy lifestyle by bursting green crackers instead of regular firecrackers.

• Mostly green crackers possess a very nice fragrance on the other hand traditional firecrackers give a smokey smell.

We all like to celebrate our festivals and celebration by bursting firecrackers. It is a very long culture of India of bursting crackers during their special occasions. But we should also remember that our environment is getting polluted day by day because of several causes. When we fire a lot of crackers it affects the environment which will eventually be going to affect human beings. So it is our responsibility to use alternative crackers instead of traditional crackers which will not affect the environment. We should use a limited number of crackers and should burst in a short time. Celebrations and festivals are not meant to create dissonance in nature. Next time while bursting crackers we should always think of our nature first.

Facts About Green Crackers

Some interesting facts about green crackers are as follows;

• The key ingredient of traditional firecracker is barium nitrate but in green crackers, barium nitrate is not used it is formulated by CSIR-NEERI. 

• Safe water release (SWAS), safe minimal aluminium (SAFAL) and safe thermite cracker (STAR) are some names of green crackers.

• Green crackers release air or water vapour which work as a dust suppressant and diluent for gaseous emissions.

• Everyone can not manufacture green crackers. If anyone wants to manufacture these cracks then they must have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with CSIR-NEERI.

• The box of the green cracker consists of a unique logo and QR code with emission details.