How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? Balloon Council USA – Balloon ban idea misguided
Posted on January 25, 2017 by DrRossH in BalloonsIn the interest of fair and balanced news coverage, let’s address some inaccuracies about ball…
Source: Letter: Balloon ban idea misguided
The Balloon Council shares Palm Beach’s passion for the environment and welcomes the opportunity to join the effort to educate consumers about responsible balloon practices to help the environment. But banning balloons would have little impact on the environment, yet it would cause great economic harm to the hardworking families who depend on balloon sales for their jobs and their livelihood.
Lets be actually clear on this. No one should be making a living off selling an item that has such a short term use and long term damage to the environment. That fact that balloons were allowed to be sold over the last 50 years or so doesn’t mean it was ever right. The numbers back then were smaller and the massive plastic problem in our oceans and lands was not present. Now any disposable plastic item like a balloon should not be allowed to be released into the environment. The people that have made money selling balloons have made money when they should not have been doing it. So it is time to move on and find a more environmentally friendly product to sell.
Latex does not biodegrade in the ocean, it does not biodegrade on the ground. Only when sent to a microbe rich environment will products biodegrade. So the Council is misleading readers a whole lot with their partial information. Meanwhile, a turtle that eats a balloon fragment will still suffer the same problem as a normal piece of soft plastic.
Then also many balloons are tied up with a string which is a entanglement plastic item so it too is a threat to wildlife.
It is shameful that some people would put making a few $1000 in profit for themselves potentially causing an agonising death to innocent wildlife, over a healthy environment for them and the wildlife.
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