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Firecracker ban ensures clean air

From the point of view of the German Environmental Aid (DUH), the nationwide ban on the sale of fireworks and firecrackers on New Year's Eve was a complete success. However, it only refers to the pollution by fine dust, which has dropped by 90 per cent in many places.

The decrease in particulate matter was particularly striking in the city state of Bremen, where not only the sale but also the firing of rockets and firecrackers was banned city-wide this year. There, particulate matter levels dropped by as much as 96 per cent. In the Landshuter Allee in Munich and on the Frankfurter Allee in Berlin, a decrease in particulate matter pollution of 94 and 87 percent, respectively, was also recorded.

One might think that the ban on firecrackers was introduced because of the air pollution, but this is only a welcome but comparatively unimportant side effect. The aim, of course, was to keep the number of injuries and fatalities as low as possible and thus relieve the hospitals. This was achieved last year: There were up to 40 percent fewer hospital admissions in 2020/21.

Particulate matter has a particularly negative impact on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Many, including DUH, therefore advocate a general ban on firecrackers on New Year's Eve. But this would require Minister of the Interior Faeser (SPD) to rewrite the explosives ordinance. According to the EU, a limit value of 50 micrograms of fine dust PM10 applies, which may not be exceeded more than 35 times a year. At least on this and last New Year's Eve, this limit was complied with in many places.

Firecracker ban zones could therefore be a sensible addition to the environmental zones and diesel driving ban zones, because in Berlin, for example, about 17 percent of the fine dust is caused by firecrackers on New Year's Eve alone.