The whole of India looks forward to this festival of lights. Diwali/Deepavali is celebrated for 3-5 days differently in different regions. Diwali festival symbolizes the spirituality of “victory of lights over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance”. Even though the rituals differ in many corners of the country, the wait, enthusiasm, and happiness are the same.
Diwali is well known for giving and receiving gifts/sweets for loved ones and praying for their happiness and prosperity. And these gifting scenes have become a fashion these days. Wrapping of Diwali gifts in colorful plastics has become a threat to the environment. After all, the wrapping stays with you until the gift is unboxed. To reduce this wrapper trash, try packing your gifts with brown paper, newspaper, napkin, or with an eco-friendly bag. Decorate with dried leaves, dried flowers, with hand paint or art. The one who receives it will definitely love it. Gift your loved ones environmental friendly gifts and help them adapt sustainable lifestyle.
Another thing that is very important on Diwali is the lights. We decorate our home by lighting diyas, flowers, and rangoli. If you are choosing candles to light your home, take a pause. The paraffin wax candles require more heat to burn because of their crystal structure and higher melting point. When these candles burn they release toxic gases like acetone, benzene, and toluene, these are known as carcinogens. These gases not only damage the environment, your health too. 
Image credits: Google
As an alternative to paraffin wax, try soy wax candles. Soy wax is made by the full hydrogenation of soybean oil; chemically this gives a triglyceride, containing a high proportion of stearic acid. This is softer than paraffin wax and has a low melting point. Because of their soft nature, these candles are usually available in a container. These are environment-friendly as they don’t emit any toxic gases.
Try to reuse the decor products that are already available at home. Or if you are planning to buy new ones, consider either fresh flowers or reusables. To light diyas you can choose terracotta or ceramic diyas. The nature will be grateful to you if can really avoid single use products in your celebrations.
And the major victim of air and sound pollution on Diwali is crackers. Burning crackers is a joy and ritual too. On account of Naraka Chaturdashi, people burn crackers to celebrate good over evil. But over time, burning crackers is not bringing goodness to the environment and to human health. When crackers are burnt, there is a huge amount of smoke is released, which increases the concentration of dust and pollutants in the air. And this can act as a thick layer of the blanket in the environment. It becomes hard for the environment in cities as there are fewer trees to absorb this carbon and release oxygen. And continues to spoil human health by giving headaches, having a severe impact on people with heart issues, causing congestion in the throat, and increasing cold and cough issues.
Many states in India are banned to burn firecrackers like Delhi, Haryana, and Chennai. No wonder if the list keeps going if people ignore the environment. To control these hazards try to choose crackers that emit less smoke, DIY confetti poppers with dried leaves or colored paper, and glow sticks. There are seed crackers in the market which make much more sense than the regular ones.
Make sure you keep these above things in mind during your Diwali celebration. Only a happy environment can make your festival more joyous. Happy Deepavali.!
Note: All images have been taken from google.