Seaside California City Bans Balloons in Public
Laguna Beach has joined several other cities taking aim at ocean pollution, wildlife health, power outages and wildfires
Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent
February 28, 2023 2:00 p.m.
Amid growing concerns about plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, city leaders in Laguna Beach, California, have banned the sale and public use of balloons, reports Amy Taxin of the Associated Press (AP).
Party-goers in the seaside city, located roughly 50 miles south of Los Angeles along the Pacific Ocean, could face fines of up to $500 for using balloons at city events or on public property starting in 2024, per the ordinance. They can, however, continue to use balloons at private homes. Business owners who break the new rule repeatedly could lose their business licenses.
The move is a response to environmental and safety issues associated with balloons. If they’re not disposed of properly, the decorations can cause big problems. When released into the air—either intentionally or accidentally—balloons often drift out over the ocean. When they eventually pop or deflate, the pieces of rubber or plastic fall into the water, where birds and other animals can mistake them for food. The material can get stuck in their digestive tracts and cause them to starve to death. Meanwhile, balloon strings can strangle marine creatures.
Balloons also carry a risk to humans. Mylar balloons—which have a metallic, foil-like coating—can become dangerously tangled in power lines, leading to power outages or even causing fires. In 2017, a major California utility reported more than 1,000 cases of outages caused by mylar balloons, per the AP.
More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/laguna-beach-california-bans-sale-and-use-of-balloons-180981713/
= new reply since forum marked as read
And wth is it still legal to sell & fill these balloons with helium?
