Green Crackers and Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation

Introduction

Apart from human activities like mining, construction, transportation, industry, etc. and natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions, wildfires etc., Firecrackers during festivities add to the air pollution which is one of the most serious environmental issues. The Supreme Court of India, in 2018, ruled out complete ban of firecrackers and allowed the use of green crackers. A network of CSIR labs has developed the idea of green crackers since.

Why is there a need for Green Crackers?

Traditional firecrackers cause air pollution and noise pollution. They contain harmful chemicals such as lead, chromium, cadmium, magnesium, aluminium, nitrates, carbon monoxide, copper, potassium, sodium, manganese dioxide, zinc oxide etc. which can bioaccumulate and damage health.
They cause severe health effects like heart diseases, respiratory or nervous system disorders. It also aggravates lesser conditions such as the common cold and coughs.
Noise pollution causes restlessness, temporary or permanent hearing loss, high blood pressure; sleep disturbance and even poor cognitive development in kids.

Supreme Court Directive

The Supreme Court has imposed a ban on the use of five harmful heavy metals like lithium, antimony, mercury, arsenic and lead in the manufacturing of firecrackers as they cause air pollution.
The apex court held that it is the responsibility of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) to ensure compliance of ban order particularly in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu where there are large numbers of firecracker manufacturers.
It also asked CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) and PESO to make collaborative efforts for setting up of standards with regard to air pollution caused by the bursting of fire-crackers.
PESO Suggested that Improved formulation for manufacturing green crackers would reduce the emission of pollutants by 25-30 per cent.

What are Green Crackers?

Green crackers are crackers devoid of harmful chemicals and within the permitted decibel range. They cause fewer emissions than conventional firecrackers. Hence, they cause reduced air pollution and sound pollution.
Components in firecrackers are replaced with others that are less dangerous and less harmful to the atmosphere. It avoids the use of ash or filler materials and uses charcoal as per specifications of Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO).
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%.

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SWAS, STAR and SAFAL

The research teams of CSIR labs have come up with 3-4 formulations and tried to reduce 30-40% of active materials which reduce particulate matter.
Several crackers such as Bijli (electric) crackers devoid of ash and sound-emitting functional prototypes that do not emit sulphur dioxide are in the testing stage.
SWAS is Safe Water Releaser, STAR is Safe Thermite Cracker and SAFAL is Safe Minimal Aluminium. The particulate matter will be reduced by 30-35 per cent in SWAS and 35 to 40 per cent in SAFAL and STAR.
These crackers release water vapour, have air as a dust suppressant and diluents for gaseous emissions and are on par with traditional conventional crackers in sound.
Several crackers are now in a testing stage at the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation.

Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation

Petroleum And Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) is a non-statutory body that controls and administers the usage of explosives, petrol stations in India.
The agency issues licenses for Operation of Petrol Stations, Licenses to operate Petroleum Product Transportation vehicles, Licenses for Refineries, Petrochemical Complexes, etc.
The Department is headed by Chief Controller of Explosives and is headquartered at Nagpur.
It is responsible for the administration of a host of laws pertaining to the regulation of explosives. These include the Explosives Act, 1884; the Inflammable Substances Act, 1952 and the Explosives Rules, 2008.

Objectives:

PESO is a subordinate office under the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP).
The organization is serving the nation since 1898 as a nodal agency for regulating the safety of substances such as explosives, compressed gases and petroleum.
Over the years, the role and responsibilities of PESO have increased manifold and expanded into diverse fields. Today, the organization deals with a wide range of subjects related to explosives, petroleum, compressed gases, pressure vessels, gas cylinders, cross-country pipelines, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Auto Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Auto LPG) etc.
The increase in workload is manifested in the quantum jump in the number of licensed premises and other activities.