What are Green Crackers?
Firecrackers are used to celebrate the festival of lights on Diwali. Every year during the Diwali Festival crores of people burn firecrackers causing air pollution and according to the present situation, firecrackers standards are not so good to deal with pollution and also not good for health. So Government planning to introduce Green Crackers this year to curb pollution developed by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research(CSIR-NEERI).
Do you know what are the green cracker’s dangerous composition of harmful ingredients causes health problems? Green Crackers will replace harmful crackers with less dangerous crackers and less harmful to the atmosphere. Eco-Friendly Green Crackers are 80% less harmful ingredients than the common firecrackers. An initiative to curb pollution during the Diwali festival green crackers developed by csir and also announced by Harsh Vardhan Minister of Science and Technology.
Normal Firecrackers cause severe effects on the health of the people like heart diseases, respiratory problems, common colds, and coughs causing congestion of the throat and chest. Noise pollution causes high blood press, and temporary or permanent hearing loss.
Fire Crackers contents like highly polluting chemical substances like cadmium, lead, chromium, aluminum powder, magnesium, nitrates, carbon monoxide, etc. causing high pollution and rise of pm2.5 and 10. Cause health damages.
Is this year we are ready to curb pollution by using Green Crackers. On Official Release by Press Information Bureau : These crackers are 15-20 % cheaper than conventional onesand NEERI team involved in the project has 80 % women scientists E-crackers also being developed with products like E-Ladi, E-Anar, E-cracker show For the first time an Emission Testing Facility established in India for sound and emission testing of crackers.
“CSIR scientists have developed Less Polluting Firecrackers which are not only environment-friendly but 15-20 % cheaper than the conventional ones”, said Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest & Climate Change at a press conference here, today.
These crackers have been named as safe water releaser (SWAS), safe minimal aluminum (SAFAL), and safe thermite cracker (STAR).
Highlighting that the Indian Fireworks industry is over 6000-crore worth of annual turnover and provides employment opportunities to over 5 lakh families directly or indirectly, the Minister said that this endeavor of CSIR aims at addressing the pollution concerns at same time protecting the livelihoods of those involved in this trade.
The Minister mentioned that firecracker manufacturers took a keen interest in laboratories throughout the process and the new crackers would not require changes in their manufacturing facilities.
The crackers have been named as safe water releaser (SWAS), safe minimal aluminum (SAFAL), and safe thermite cracker (STAR).
It has the unique property of releasing water vapor or air as a dust suppressant and diluent for gaseous emissions and matching performance in sound with conventional crackers.
SWAS crackers eliminate the usage of (KNO3) Potassium nitrate and Sulphurwith consequent reduction in particulate matter (30-35%) SO2 and NOx. It has matching sound intensity with commercial crackers in the range of 105-110 dBA.
SWAS has been tested for a shelf life of up to 3 weeks with consistent performance. STAR eliminates the usage of KNO3 and S with the consequent reduction in particulate matter (35-40%), SO2, and NOx. It has matching sound intensity with commercial crackers in the range of 105-110 dBA.
SAFAL has minimal usage of aluminum (only in flash powder for initiation) with a consequent significant reduction in particulate matter(35-40 %) compared to commercial crackers. It has matching sound intensity with commercial crackers in the range of 110-115 dBA.
PESO has been approached to analyze and test SWAS/STAR/SAFAL from point of view of safety, stability, and other related issues.
Also, functional prototypes of flower pots for substitution of BaNO3(Barium nitrate) by low-cost eco-friendly materials have been developed with a significant reduction in particulate matter (30-35%). These functional prototypes have been successfully demonstrated in Sivakasi to leading manufacturers.
To curb pollution celebrate the festival of lights by lighting up Diya and less use of fireworks is recommended. Happy Diwali.
