For the good of the environment...

The increased environmental awareness in our society did of course not spare the pyrotechnics industry. Pyrotechnic items are therefore made of recycled cardboard or paper.

NICO Europe has reduced the formerly very high proportion of plastic in its listed products to a minimum. For example, the coloured guide rods for rockets have been replaced by such made of untreated natural wood.

Fireworks, however, do not burn without leaving any residues, but leave packing and construction material. The construction material as well as the original chemical are chosen from the viewpoint of their environmental impact. The use of chemicals leaving toxic residues has been restricted severely in the 1950s and 1960s.

A life cycle assessment perforrmed by the Institute for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology of the German Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has shown that significant disturbances in aquatic and terrestrial biotopes are not to be expected. The air monitoring network of the States of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Lower Saxony with data from  pure air areas (Eifel, Sauerland) and big cities (Essen, Dortmund) have also been integrated into this study, whose results were introduced in the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) yearbook. According to the results of the study, in urban areas a short-term increase in the concentration of suspended dust is takes place due to the letting of New Year's Eve fireworks, however, without exceeding a limit or adjustment value.

The German Association of the pyrotechnic industry (VPI) provides a pool for relevant immission data regarding fireworks. The life cycles of single pyrotechnic articles and the remain of their residues in the environment, as well as measurements performed by the State Offices for immission protection, show that - especially during the firing period on New Year's Eve - polluting emissions do not occur at all or only to a marginal extent.

Further information on the subject can be obtained from the German Association of the pyrotechnic industry (VPI) or the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA).