I love fireworks. My son loves fireworks. So much so that we drag my (grumbling) husband to watch them every July 4th. However, I do like to leave the annual tradition of blowing up sparkly gunpowder to the professionals. I have never taken much to buying and setting off my own fireworks, especially with a young child around. Since I don’t purchase consumer fireworks, I honestly have never given much thought to the waste they create. But then my best friend, who lives on the coast of North Carolina, sent me this photo the day after July 4th last year:

She collected that much plastic and cardboard firework waste on a walk where she lives, all left behind by people the night before. That’s the amount she found that hadn’t already washed into the ocean during high tide. That’s from just one section of one beach, in one town. I imagine fireworks at the beach are fun and beautiful, but at what cost to the environment?

Waste

After reading multiple news articles from coastal states, particularly Florida, I discovered that the Independence Day firework waste collected is measured in tons. Tons! Even on beaches where fireworks are illegal, such as on Hilton Head Island, beach patrol collected seven trailers’ worth of fireworks debris in 2019.¹

“Any regular beach walker will tell you about encountering little ribbons of plastic along the tide line in the days and weeks after the Fourth of July. All waiting for the high tide that will be their ride to join that vast swirl of ocean-borne plastics.” -Mark Lane, The Daytona Beach News-Journal²

Since these are set off in the dark, it’s difficult to find all of the scattered pieces once exploded. “Fireworks launchers are big and easy to spot and haul away, but each rocket launched and bomb exploded rains tiny shards of plastics and cardboard along with a smattering of metals like lead and copper.”³ This does not include the bottles, cans, cigarette butts, snack bags/containers, and other single-use disposable items that July 4th partiers leave behind.

Plastics

The plastic bits break down into smaller pieces called microplastics, which are then ingested by fish and marine animals. The toxins from those plastics make their way through the food chain, all the way into our bodies.

Wildlife Disturbance

Left on the beaches, fireworks debris harms marine life. They block the paths of sea turtles and crabs. Not to mention birds and marine animals ingest these small pieces of debris. Additionally, there are dangers to all wildlife from injury and entanglement from the plastic garbage. Unfortunately, July 4th is during prime sea turtle nesting season.

The noise from fireworks disturbs animals everywhere, from eagles and other birds to our domesticated love ones. The loud explosions cause panic and despair in many animals.⁶ Just think of how your dog or your neighbor’s dog reacts every 4th of July.

“Environmentalists from Clearwater Marine Aquarium and Audubon Bird Stewards reported that the noise, debris, and lights from fireworks were negatively impacting both sea turtles and beach nesting birds. Fireworks cause aborted nesting attempts, ingestion of plastic residue, and disturbed and disoriented hatchlings, all of which significantly reduces the number of successful births.”⁷

Other Problems from Fireworks

Consumer fireworks cause thousands of injuries annually in the United States. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 2019 there were approximately 10,000 injuries from fireworks treated in emergency departments, with about 73% of those during just a one-month interval surrounding July 4th.⁸

In addition, fireworks, both consumer and professional types, are potentially toxic to the air and water, hence to us, wildlife, and the water we drink.⁹&¹⁰&¹¹

Fireworks from gender reveal parties have caused massive wildfires.¹²&¹³

Did you know that Americans spend close to $1 billion annually on consumer fireworks? This number astonished me for many reasons. Do you know how many problems we could solve for ourselves, wildlife, and the planet with $1 billion? Make a list, pick one, and I bet it’s money better spent than just blowing it up.

Environmentally Friendly Fireworks

There have been some developments with making more environmentally friendly fireworks, but these changes have not been significant enough to make large-scale differences. These include fireworks released with compressed air as an alternate propellant and changing the chemical make-up to reduce pollutants, but the studies on the latter are still new and the impact is not clear. In consumer fireworks, some companies are trying to switch to recycled paper and cardboard components over plastics, but testing new products takes time and money.

New Traditions

July 4th is no celebration for the environment and wildlife. We can do better. Especially with something that is so non-essential to our lives.

I argue that we don’t need to set off consumer fireworks or sparklers on the beach or anywhere else in nature, at all. In fact, I began this article as a person who loved to drag her family to professional fireworks every summer, but after researching the problems even they create, I’m starting to think differently. Are there new traditions we can create? What about laser light shows?

If you do set off fireworks on the beach or in a natural area, please take safety precautions and clean up the debris. It really matters! We can all make a difference and encourage others to do the right thing. Thank you for reading, please share and subscribe.

 

Additional Resources:

Article, “Let Freedom Ring and Fireworks Fly, but Keep Debris off the Beaches and Out of the Sky!” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, July 1, 2019.

Article, “Fireworks: Can they ever be eco-friendly?” Deutsche Welle, accessed June 19, 2021.

Article, “Are Fireworks Bad for the Environment?” by Russell McLendon, Treehugger.com, updated February 23, 2021.

Footnotes:

 

1. Article, “Hilton Head beaches littered with illegal firework debris,” by Crystal Howard, WTOC, July 6, 2019.
2. Article, “After fireworks go silent, beach debris remains,” by Mark Lane, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, July 7, 2020.
3. Article, “After fireworks go silent, beach debris remains,” by Mark Lane, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, July 7, 2020.
4. Article, “Ka-Boom! Fireworks create an environmental bombshell,” by Natalie St. John, Chinook Observer, June 16, 2015.
5. Post, “Fireworks Should Leave Memories, Not Trash,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program Blog, July 3, 2018.
6. Article, “A 9th Reason to Rant About Fireworks: They Are Really Hard on Bald Eagles and Other Birds,” by Lloyd Alter, updated July 4, 2019.
7. Article, “Indian Rocks Beach wants July 4th fireworks to fizzle out,” by Jeannie Carlson, Tampa Bay Newspapers Weekly, October 16, 2019.
8. Report, “2019 Fireworks Annual Report,” U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, June 2020.
9. Article, “The Eco-Unfriendly Truths About Fireworks,” by Elizabeth Weiss, Earth911.com, July 2, 2020.
10. Article, “Toxicity of particles emitted by fireworks,” by Christina Hickey et al., Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 17, 28, July 2, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-020-00360-4.
11. Article, “Common Fireworks Release Lead, Copper & Other Toxic Metals into the Air: Metals Used to Give Fireworks Color Damage Human Cells & Animal Lungs,” by NYU Langone Health, July 2, 2020.
12. Article, “A Gender-Reveal Celebration Is Blamed for a Wildfire. It Isn’t the First Time,” The New York Times, updated September 18, 2020.
13. Article, “Officials release video from gender reveal party that ignited a 47,000-acre wildfire,” CNN, November 28, 2018.