Say No to Latex and Foil Balloons!
People are increasingly aware of environmental concerns, of doing their part to help our sensitive ecosystem, and of helping everyone to avoid harmful substances. Such concerns apply just as much, if not more, to balloons.
Consider this, which is but a single example of a careless, carefree, cavalier attitude to appearance versus sustainability: every year, since the mid-1940s, The Indy 500 has released thousands of Helium-filled, Latex balloons into the air, thousands of which end up as a threat to our wildlife, and as products that do not degrade quickly (i.e., several years in some cases). Read the article from IndyStar if you’d like more information on just one example of how harmful the practice is.
In this post, we talk about protecting the environment while still enjoying colourful, long-lasting balloon displays. Here are our top five reasons to not use Latex or foil balloons:
1. Latex and foil balloons simply do not degrade quickly. Read this article from Ocean Crusaders Foundation to find out how bad the situation is in reality. Latex can take years to degrade, while foil can take centuries to break down. Our balloons do not use Latex or foil, and almost never float away from your lot or business.
2. Help protect our wildlife, oceans, and land. We may never see where a balloon lands, what animal might eat it, or the untold thousands of Latex remnants across our nation. But they’re there. Not only is Latex not biodegradable, at least not quickly, it ends up floating as debris, killing animals that eat it, or spoiling our natural inhabitant.
3. Our sensitivity to Latex is on the increase. Sensitivity to Latex doesn’t only occur due to constant exposure, though certainly medical and other professionals see it more often. An allergic reaction may simply be an annoyance, but for some, it’s much worse. Your body may mistake Latex for a harmful substance, and if it does a reaction ensues. See this article, with material from the Mayo Clinic, to learn more.
4. Some companies and products hide the fact that they’re using Latex. Latex is a non-natural substance, that, as we’ve said, can cause reactions in some people. Be aware of claims that say a product is ‘Latex Free.’ In their 2014 guidelines about Latex, the U.S. Food & Drug (FDA) they state there are no “tests that can show a product contains no natural rubber latex proteins…”
5. Foil versus Latex. Compounding or contrasting the wild popularity of Helium-filled balloons is this fact: foil is heavier than Latex. This matters because foil balloons take even more Helium to fill. And Helium is a rapidly disappearing, non-renewable resource. Aluminum Foil was invented over 100 years ago, yet our exposure to Aluminum Foil has increased by a factor of 30 over the past 50 years. This is not a good thing for us. In addition to contaminating food, its manufacture has put at risk something that’s hugely important to us as species: the bee population. Through pesticides and other means, bees have been exposed to massive amounts of this toxic metal.
We encourage you to join Dynamic Balloons in enjoying colourful, attractive, long-lasting balloon displays that are far less harmful to you, and to the environment.