Upstream from the Downstream Problem of Mylar Balloons
On Monday we posted a positive story on the rescue of Mylar balloons overboard by the Passport 37 Sula. It was heartwarming to see the good work done by sailors Carolyn Rosner and Mike Hay. On Wednesday we went into Safeway to rediscover what they and the world are up against.
The world can’t live without plastic, but there are certainly some plastics we can live without. Single-use plastic water bottles and Mylar balloons are two of them. They both are probably very profitable to Safeway and contribute to shareholder value. Clearly, Mylar balloons don’t take up valuable shelf space, and they never rot or go bad like so many other things in a grocery store.
We can see the appeal of quick, festive solutions to our desire to have fun, but we can also see that Mylar balloons are not a safe way for the planet to have us commemorate our various human celebrations. As Carolyn and Mike said, “Friends don’t let friends buy Mylar balloons.”
If you ask the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands abut the damage Mylar balloons do to Marine Mammals who ingest them you would never even consider purchasing one. Plus the sort of ribbon attached to them tangles around necks and flippers doing even more damage. So sad!
Not to mention that the helium is a non-renewable resource that has many more important uses (engineering, science, medicine, etc) than to make balloons rise.