Environmental impact on HOLI
An alleged environmental issue related to the celebration of Holi is the traditional Holika bonfire, which is believed to contribute to deforestation. Activists estimate Holika causes 30,000 bonfires every year, with each one burning approximately 100 kilograms of wood. This represents less than 0.0001% of 350 million tons of wood India consumes every year, as one of the traditional fuels for cooking and other uses.
The use of heavy metal-based pigments during Holi is also reported to cause temporary wastewater pollution, with the water systems recovering to pre-festival levels within 5 days.
Flammability
Dry agricultural products-based holi powder such as colored corn starch, under certain conditions, can ignite.
In June 2015, hundreds of concert-goers in Bali District, Taiwan were severely injured in the Formosa Fun Coast explosion, including fifteen who died later in hospital, after three tons of corn starch powder mixed with food coloring was sprayed onto the crowd at a high velocity, causing a massive explosion.
The method of powder application at the concert created "an extremely dense dust cloud over the stage and its immediate vicinity", people near the stage were standing ankle deep in colored corn starch powder and the powder was suspended into the air using air blowers as well as compressed gas canisters. Initial investigations into the explosion showed the ignition of the suspended corn starch powder was likely caused by a cigarette or spark. An Asia One report states that such an explosion can occur, under certain conditions, not just with corn starch but with powder form of any agricultural product such as "powdered milk, soya flour, cornflour, rice dust, spice powders, sugar, tapioca, cocoa powder, coconut shell dust, coffee dust, garlic powder, grass dust, malted hops, lemon peel dust, oat flour, peanut skins, tea and tobacco", and that "the crucial element is not the composition of the powder itself, but whether it's deployed under high pressure with a flame nearby."
According to Williamson, flammable powder or dust suspended in air in high concentrations is explosive. Williamson notes that "dust cloud explosions can only occur if the dust concentration is within certain limits. In general the lowest concentration of dust that can give a dust explosion is around 50-100 g/m3 and the maximum is 2-3 kg/m3. These limits are dependent on the particular chemical in question. It is usually easy to see if a cloud is explosible, as visibility through a dust cloud - even at the lowest concentrations - is impaired."
During traditional Holi celebrations in India, Rinehart writes, colors are exchanged in person by "tenderly applying colored powder to another person's cheek", or by spraying and dousing others with buckets of colored water.
