Malta’s fascination with feasts and fireworks came under scrutiny yesterday at the Archbishop’s Curia, where the Church’s Environment Commission, headed by Prof. Victor Axiak, presented the findings of a study into the environmental impact of the village festa. Entitled “Environmental Impacts of Religious Feasts”, the study focused on a sample of eight village feasts in Malta, paying attention to two of the more contentious issues associated with the traditional parish festa: fireworks and litter.
Firework fatalities
Predictably, much of the study was concerned with health and safety issues arising from our national passion for pyrotechnics.
Between 1997 and 2006, 14 people died and another 38 were injured in accidents caused directly or indirectly by fireworks. This works out at an estimated rate of 14.8 accidents per million inhabitants – by far the highest rate in the Mediterranean region, and second in Europe only to Britain, which registers an annual rate of 17 accidents per million inhabitants.
In terms of individual villages, Zebbug tops the casualty list with 14 accidents in the past nine years, followed by Munxar, Mqabba and Cospicua. On the other side of the scale, the safest village festas to date include Gharb, Gharghur, Lija, Luqa, Mgarr and Siggiewi, none of which registered any injuries since 1997.
Most of the accidents (56 per cent) occurred in licensed fireworks factories, while 18 per cent involved illegal manufacture of fireworks, most often in the home. Perhaps the most worrying factor is that 19 per cent of all accident victims were aged 16 or under, raising concerns about the apparently unmonitored conditions in which pyrotechnic enthusiasts are allowed to work.
Faced with these statistics, the Environment Commission has recommended a number of measures to increase safety levels for firework production, including:
• Stricter criteria for the issuing of licences to manufacture fireworks;
• Regular screening of licence holders to ensure the upkeep of standards;
• A safety officer to be present at all fireworks factories;
• A programme of health and safety courses for all those involved in the production of fireworks.
Noise pollution
Among the problems faced by the commission in its evaluation of noise pollution – by far the most common cause of festa-related complaints – was the absence of any legal limits on noise production.
While the European Union recommends basic noise limits for firework displays, these standards have yet to be transposed to Maltese law. As a result, local pyrotechnic enthusiasts are unfettered by any existing legal infrastructure to control noise levels, with results that can be heard in various parts of the island throughout summer.
The commission’s study is the first to attempt to scientifically measure the auricular impact of fireworks, using the A-weighted decibel scale (measured in dBA): an expression of the relative loudness of sounds in air as perceived by the human ear.
According to the criteria established by the Curia’s commission, the very maximum “accepted noise limit” for a firework display should be 120 dBA – equivalent to the sound produced by a Boeing 747 during take-off. Admittedly, most Maltese fireworks fall short of this particular sound barrier, producing noise levels between 100 and 110 dBA.
Four of the eight feasts probed by the commission were found to exceed the recommended limit, with the loudest recorded fireworks reaching a staggering 130 dBA. These are the notorious murtali tal-berqa (cracker shells): almost four times as loud as the more traditional murtali tal-kulur (colour shells), and twice as loud as maroons (bombi) and the opening barrage (bombi tas-salut).
Recordings were also taken for land fireworks (giggifogu), although in this case the average noise levels fell between 95 and 115 dBA.
Apart from creating public disturbance, noise levels of more than 125dBA can also permanently impair one’s hearing. The categories most at risk of partial deafness on account of fireworks include the pyrotechnic engineers themselves, as well as vendors and kiosk owners who attend numerous feasts each year.
However, certain sections of society, including young children, pregnant women and the elderly or infirm, are more vulnerable than others. Among the commission’s recommendations in the noise department is the immediate adoption of legislation to bring noise levels to within acceptable limits, as well as an educational campaign to inform the public about the potential health risks posed by a typical firework display.
Litter
The study also found that religious feasts produce around 450 tonnes of solid waste each year: roughly 27 per cent of Malta’s total waste production.
Of this, approximately half (48 per cent) is accounted for by glass, most often in the form of discarded beer and soft drink bottles. However, it must be borne in mind that the percentages are calculated according to weight: glass being the heaviest of the solid waste produced during village feasts.
37 per cent consists of plastic, mainly cups and containers associated with fast food. Considering the relative weight difference, one can safely conclude that the actual volume of plastic to find its way into the waste stream is much greater than that of either glass or metals; a fact which carries certain environmental implications, as plastic is generally more harmful to the environment than the other types of solid waste.
The commission urged greater cooperation of all the entities involved, including WasteServ Malta Ltd, contractors responsible for garbage collection, local councils, band clubs and the public.