Balloons and balloon bans were the subject of an in-depth discussion on yesterday’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show, which airs on ITV.
The discussion followed the news that environment secretary Michael Gove is planning to accelerate the ban for plastic straws and other single-use plastics.
Hosts Ben Shepherd and Charlotte Hawkins were joined by environmental expert and TV presenter Tom Heap, who believes that banning balloons would be an overreaction and environmental activist Zion Lights, who thinks that there should be a total blanket ban.
Tom explained that he believed a ban would be an overreaction, saying that; “They are immense fun, they can offer good exercise for kids…. This is a disposal problem primarily, this is not a problem with the balloon itself.”
When quizzed about helium balloons and releases, Tom was equally clear. “We definitely need to be more responsible about those. I’ve seen the effects of this and …. we know they can cause problems… By definition, you are throwing them away, it just so happens that they are floating away and happen to look quite nice.”
Zion – who is often referred to as Britain’s Greenest Mum – admitted that her children have been given balloons before and that she grew up playing with them as well.
“I would love it if they were as biodegradable as everyone says they are,” she began. “The Marine Conservation Society says that they take seven years to degrade – longer if they fall in the sea. But seven years is too long – it only takes one minute for a sea turtle to swallow one of these things.”
When pushed to answer if that could all be avoided by correct disposal, Zion simply said that wasn’t enough.
“It all ends up in the sea and these are not items that we can risk ending up in our whales and dolphins and sea turtles. I love the image of children playing with them and it’s really fun, but actually we need to change the image – just as we have with straws and with cotton buds. Before balloons we had bunting and different ways of celebrating. It’s just a cultural shift that needs to happen and I don’t think it’s a huge one to ask for.”
Charlotte Hawkins then referred to some statistics which stated that of the total number of plastic items found on European beaches between 2010 and 2016, balloons represented just 1%, with most of those from releases. Would that be enough?
Zion replied that she still doesn’t think banning releases would go far enough. “It needs to be all balloons. They [foil balloons] are worse, but the latex ones still take seven years to biodegrade and I don’t think that is acceptable.”
The full interview can be see on the ITV catch up website, and begins one hour and 27 minutes into the programme.
Good Morning Britain is also running a poll about whether or not balloons should be banned on its Twitter site.
The Government is announcing today its plans to ban the distribution and sale of plastic straws to try and protect our sea.
Experts also say that releasing balloons into the air could have a ‘horrendous’ impact on marine life. Should we ban balloons too?
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 22, 2018
