Green fireworks

Subject: Environment

Context:

Manufacturers in Sivakasi – the country’s fireworks manufacturing capital – have produced environmentally friendly fireworks as per Supreme Court order on ‘green’ crackers.

Concept:

• Traditionally, firecrackers have been made with barium nitrate, antimony and a range of metals that, over the years, have been linked to respiratory diseases and even cancer.
• Green crackers are those crackers which do not contain harmful chemicals that would cause air pollution.
• They are environmentally friendly and less harmful as compared to conventional firecrackers and less pollution emission will result in reduced air pollution.
• In it commonly used polluting chemicals like aluminium, barium, potassium nitrate and carbon have either been removed or sharply reduced to slow down the emissions by 15 to 30%.
• CSIR scientists have developed Less Polluting Firecrackers which are not only environment friendly but 15-20 % cheaper than the conventional ones
• These crackers have been named as safe water releaser (SWAS), safe minimal aluminium (SAFAL) and safe thermite cracker (STAR).