POPPING OFF ON PLASTIC

RI town bans balloons

The party’s over in a Rhode Island town — which has banned balloons over fears they will harm the environment and kill wildlife, according to reports Friday.

New Shoreham on Block Island, near the state’s central coastline, voted unanimously this week to forbid the sale and use of the party favors, citing damages to ocean life and coastal ecosystems, according to the Block Island Times.

“Not a day goes by when we don’t pick up plastic, the majority of which is balloons,” town councilor Chris Willi fumed to the paper — adding the high-flying decorations often drift over from Long Island.

“This is a feel-good ordinance. And I think it sends a message,” Willi said.

Anyone who breaks the new rule, which goes into effect Monday, will face a $200 fine.

Balloons have frequently landed in the ocean and washed up on the town’s shores, causing pollution and harming animals, Kenneth Lacoste, first warden of the town council, told CNN.

“We are very concerned about the environment,” Lacoste said. “There’s a lot of information out there [about] damages that balloons do to the wildlife.”

Balloons Blow, a nonprofit organization devoted to spreading information about the dangers of the decorations, cheered the move.

“When your community is surrounded by water and you see the wrath of balloon trash daily, it’s no wonder they are banning balloons altogether,” Danielle Vosburgh, founder of the organization, wrote in an e-mail to CNN.

Residents and animalrights activists said the balloon bill is more than just a lot of hot air.

Carol Leslie, a resident of the town who has worked at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, said she once saw a balloon suffocate a leatherback sea turtle.

“[The turtle] was killed by one balloon,” she said. “You have to say, ‘No balloons!’ ”

The bill, which the council passed Monday, piggybacks on previous legislation banning one-time-use of plastic grocery bags.

There are no party stores in New Shoreham that depend heavily on the sales of balloons, CNN reported.

Several other US towns, including Provincetown and Nantucket in Massachusetts, have also banned balloons.