Latex balloons, typically synonymous with festive occasions such as birthday parties and graduations, have landed in the cross hairs of the environmental movement because of their potential to harm wildlife.
Balloons don’t present nearly as big a pollution problem as plastics, which are estimated to make up 85 percent of the world’s marine debris: Items like beverage bottles, bags, cutlery, plates, straws and balloon sticks litter beaches, seas and waterways far and wide.
“They’re one piece of the puzzle,’’ said Emma Tonge, communications and outreach specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “They are a serious threat to wildlife simply because they are colorful and bright, so wildlife might mistake them for food, and the strings can wrap around their bodies and make it difficult for them to swim or breathe.’’
The success in recent years of campaigns to ban or discourage the use of plastic bags and straws raises the question of whether the once-seemingly innocuous balloons may join the list of verboten articles.
Five states – California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia – already have forbidden mass balloon discharges, and several others have introduced bills aimed at limiting how many can be sent floating into the skies at once.
The Clemson Tigers, who won the college football national championship in 2016, this year discontinued their decades-long tradition of unleashing 10,000 orange balloons as the players took the field in a nod to the university’s sustainability efforts.
Will future birthday celebrants have to settle for streamers and banners while forsaking the pleasure of chasing and popping balloons?
Read the full story at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/08/22/balloon-bans-after-straw-bans-balloons-going-next/1055356002/.