Changes in Air Pollutants from Fireworks in Chinese Cities

Abstract

Chinese New Year has traditionally been welcomed with fireworks, but this has meant this holiday can experience intense peaks of pollutants, particularly as particulate matter. Such environmental issues add to other risks (e.g., accident, fire, and ecological and health threats) posed by firework displays, but cultural reasons encourage such celebrations. This study examines air pollution from fireworks across a time of increasingly stringent bans as a time series from 2014–2021 using a random forest (decision-tree) model to explore the effect of year-to-year weather changes on pollutant concentrations at Chinese New Year. Peak concentrations of firework pollutants have decreased in cities and hint at the importance of well-enforced regulation of these traditional celebrations, e.g., Beijing, Tianjin, and Chongqing. The model suggested relative humidity was an important controlling variable, perhaps as the presence of water vapor might also accelerate particle growth but also as a surrogate parameter related to atmospheric mixing. Bans on fireworks, resisted at first, have shown evidence of growing public acceptance. The regulations are increasingly effective, even in the outer parts of cities. Celebrations might safely return as public firework displays, including light shows and the use of lanterns.

Vertical Profiles of Aerosols Induced by Dust, Smoke, and Fireworks in the Cold Region of Northeast China

“…During the last two decades, northeast China has faced fluctuating levels of air pollution from natural emissions, intense anthropogenic activities, and cross-regional transport of aerosols from nearby regions [12][13][14][15]. Studies have focused on proposing control measures to reduce the intensity of anthropogenic activities, including energy combustion, illegal emissions, and biomass burning, as well as leveraging favourable meteorological conditions to mitigate the formation of intense haze over megacities in northeast China [16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

The impact of fireworks ban relaxation on variations in SO2 emissions in China during the 2023 Chinese New Year

“…Since December 2017, a near-sweeping ban on fireworks has been implemented in the main urban areas across China. As the scope continued to expand, nearly 160 prefecture-level cities had implemented the fireworks ban by the end of 2018 [17,18]. Several studies have examined the positive impact of fireworks bans on controlling air pollution [19][20][21][22][23].…”