The National Association Of Balloon Artists and Suppliers (NABAS) has created a parliamentary petition calling for the government to ‘Ban Releases Of Foil and Plastic Balloons, Balloons With Ribbons and Sky Lanterns’ across the whole of the UK.
Announced to the trade on Monday 11 June along with a Facebook video from NABAS chairman George Oustayiannis, director of Go International, the post said: ‘Every balloon professional is in agreement about banning the release of foil balloons, plastic balloons, ribbons and valves… spread the word, share, repost, copy and let’s get this accurate petition heard and debated properly.’
George introduces the petition by saying: “This is probably the most important video I’ve ever made…”. He then goes on to say that: “There isn’t a day goes by that our industry isn’t adversely affected in some way by government officials, by environmentalists, by the general public, who really have no idea of the truth behind who we are and what we do.”
He explains that he wanted to take action against the ‘very real threat’ balloon releases pose against the industry and started the petition as something the entire industry can get behind, “irrespective of who we are, the associations we are a part of and the wholesalers we buy from.”
George’s video and call to action can be seen in full here.
The petition itself reads: ‘We are seriously concerned that the release of foil balloons, plastic balloons, any balloons with ribbons attached and sky lanterns represent a genuine threat to wildlife and our environment and therefore should be banned.’
It does not include latex balloons.
The petition needs 10,000 signatures for a government response and 100,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament.
Click here to see the petition in full and to add your support.
