Campaigners target balloons
Now that plastic straws may be headed for extinction, could our love of balloons be deflated?
The celebration of releasing balloons has long bothered environmentalists, who say the pieces that fall to earth can be deadly to seabirds and turtles that eat them.
So as companies vow to banish plastic straws, there are signs balloons will be among the products to get more scrutiny, even though they’re a very small part of environmental pollution.
This year, US college football team Clemson University is ending its tradition of releasing 10,000 balloons into the air before games, a move that’s part of its sustainability efforts.
In Virginia, a campaign that urges alternatives to balloon releases at weddings is growing. And a town in Rhode Island this year banned the sale of all balloons, citing the harm to marine life.
Following efforts to limit plastic bags, the push by environmentalists against straws has gained traction in recent months, partly because they’re seen as unnecessary for most.
A handful of US cities recently passed or are considering bans. And the push may bring attention to other items people may not have considered — like festive balloons.
“The issue of straws has really broadened the marine debris issue,” says Emma Tonge of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. People might not realise balloons are a danger, she says.
Balloons are not among the top 10 kinds of debris found in coastal cleanups, but Tonge says they’re common and especially hazardous to marine animals, which can also get entangled in balloon strings.
Chelsea Rochman, an assistant professor of ecology at the University of Toronto, says people should think systemically about waste and pollution, but that efforts to bring attention to specific products shouldn’t be dismissed as too minor. “If we said that about everything, we wouldn’t get anything done,” she says. AP