The Funda of Green Crackers

With Diwali around the corner, we Indians get over excited about cleaning, lighting and burning crackers. But somehow the earlier zeal is missing … I know age is a factor but more importantly, it’s the pollution that is hampering the festive spirit. The air quality, especially in metropolitan cities in India, has been deteriorating at a fast pace. Given the poor quality of air, the Supreme Court has banned online sales of crackers this year and proposed the use of green crackers. These will be crackers with lower emission levels. The Court has also allowed a small window of 8pm-10pm for bursting crackers. Many Indians opposed this verdict as was evident by their comments on social media. However, they forgot that the Indian capital city is now one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Green crackers sound fancy right, differ slightly from the conventional crackers based on their color, sound, and brightness. The particulate matter particularly sulphur dioxide content makes the huge difference between traditional and green crackers. The traditional firecrackers comprise of aluminum, barium, potassium nitrate and carbon, which scientists are trying to replace with less harmful substances. The green crackers are also believed to emit less noise and smoke. The best part about these crackers is that they would be 25-30% cheaper to manufacture and manufacturers would not have to make any changes in their facilities.

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The green crackers were unveiled by scientists in CSIR-NEERI. Scientists have been researching the green crackers for a year now and believe that they could reduce emissions by 15-30%. Scientists are also looking at developing crackers from plant-based products and alternative chemicals to bring down pollution.

All pepped up to use these green crackers and save your environment? But the sad news is that these green crackers will not hit the market this Diwali as they are still in an early stage and await necessary clearings from Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation.

I think this is a great move by the government to save the environment. The people of India should come out in full support without arguing that burning crackers is the only motive of Diwali. Instead lets spread love and happiness around us by distributing food and clothes to the needy and help them celebrate a better Diwali!