Mylar Balloons

[menzies]

They really are a scourge. We have seen them everywhere on the water up and down the east coast and the Chesapeake.

265 of them collected in six weeks on Cumberland Island's beach. And those are just the one's which washed up.

I have just written to Publix and Winn Dixie pointing out that this national treasure sits right here where their businesses are and they really need to start the ball rolling on not selling them.

https://www.facebook.com/CumberlandIslandNPS/posts/3148848908505996

 

[caltexflanc]

Right on, and it's not limited to there. There is this whole trend of having ceremonies, typically memorial services, where everyone is given a balloon and on cue releases it.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. m. I fully agree with you!!! Unfortunately, like trying to ban other single use plastics you're pleas are falling on deaf ears. As an aside, I've slashed my hands so many times on those blister packs that now, when I open one (IF I can), I put on heavy work gloves.


Greta made headline news decrying the burning of fossil fuels that apparently are leading to climate change but climate change IMO is a red herring. Humans can adapt, move facilities etc. NOT cheap BUT it can be done.


What Greta SHOULD have been protesting is the contamination of our oceans and environment with plastics. Kill the oceans and humans can NOT adapt. We're dead.


China, Indonesia and India have been singled out as the leading sources of plastic pollution of the oceans. What is never mentioned is that the source of that plastic pollution is first world countries who ship their plastic waste to third world countries for "processing".

 

[Unclematt]

It is amazing how totally ignorant people are. I think "Marine life matters too" Our sea creatures have no opportunity to make a better life for themselves we humans need to do things that don't degrade their life. That is my thoughts. Just so everyone understands I think every life matters which includes all living creatures. I do believe humans can make a choice as to the quality of their life.

 

[OldDan1943]

Mylar balloons raise hell high tension electrical lines.
Whales apparently like to fill up on plastic

 

[Miz Trom]

IMHO, "disposable" plastics are the scourge of the industrial world. And I agree with RT, perhaps even the death knell for mankind.

Here is one of the better articles on the amount of plastics in the oceans:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

We literally have to stop - stop NOW - using plastic as a "disposable" anything, whether it is bags, balloons, bottles or lawn chairs. But the reason the grocery stores sell the balloons and plastic bottles is simple profit. People buy those damn balloons and plastic containers because it is a convenience. The slippery slope...

I struggle with the idea of how to get people to stop using plastics. Educate the public on the repercussions of this awful product versus should the government just ban it all? The first idea takes too long and the other will never happen.

Sadly,
Mrs. Trombley

 

[menzies]

We use reusable for grocery shopping but there is still plenty of plastic going out the doors.

They now charge you for plastic bags in the UK and Ireland, forcing people to buy reusables.

Why not in the US? 5 cents a plastic bag. 4 cents of that to a education and recycling program. Even though its a drop in the shopping bucket people are funny about paying any small amount for "nothing!" Plus it may make them think.

 

[Bacchus]

NY outlawed "single use" plastic... eg groceries.
We reused EVERY one of those for garbage in various places. Our locality Requires garbage be in plastic!!!
We now have to buy more to use once for garbage... makes no sense to me?
The extreme, heavy duty, unnecessary multi level plastic packaging is OK but not a reusable bag?
Deposit for beer, soda, now water is a joke. Our state gets about half of the "excess" for bottles not returned and puts it in the general fund. It's a revenue stream and state has little interest in using that $ to enhance or encourage reuse or additional recycling.
Why can't states & local entities demonstrate some leadership and place a priority on buying products with higher recycle content?
Why aren't states demonstrating leadership by converting govt building energy use to environmentally friendly instead of just setting goals that the private sector should meet?

 

[jleonard]

We have them in Ct also..No deposit on baloons but 10 cent cost for a plastic bag. However suspended due to covid
AKA free for all

 

[menzies]

Bacchus, I think the issue is recycling is not profitable so really of minimum interest to the private sector.

The US is hesitant to introduce additional costly local "public utilities," which frankly I get to a degree.

But we have to get to a common ground - to somehow incentivising non-use of single use plastics while incentivising recycling.

 

[menzies]

We have them in Ct also..No deposit on baloons but 10 cent cost for a plastic bag. However suspended due to covid
AKA free for all

So two thoughts.

Why would they suspend a 10 cents per bag charge due to COVID? It really is more of a message than a hardship.

And if people hadn't already started using reusable bags because of the extra charge prior to COVID, then it really isn't "sticking."

So a re-look is probably needed.

 

[BruceK]

Container deposits help. Free supermarket bags are largely banned now. I have seen stories and film of plastic pieces being removed from the stomachs of dead birds and animals, it clogs their stomachs, they die of starvation, even baby birds get fed it by foraging parents. There is fine polyester thread from clothing being ingested too.
Too many people,a world now unable to dispose of its rubbish. The world is telling us something but our inbuilt desire to procreate comes first. It cannot end well.

 

[menzies]

This really is something we boaters have an interest in, since we ply one of the greatest resources on earth.

We snorkel and dive reefs.

We fish.

We marvel at the dolphins that ride our wakes.

We sit in our cockpits with a glass in hand of an evening, watching a sunset, and we sigh.

We post photos of all this, because we love it.

We are not what is traditionally tagged as "tree huggers," because we own relatively expensive boats.

When we talk about the environment we float in, we cannot be labeled as C or D or L, we should be labeled at boaters, those who get huge rewards from being out there on the water.

So what can we do? That is positive without being labeled as being of one political bent versus another.

What can we as boaters do to simply make our waining years as enjoyable as we can while protecting the environment we chose to live in.

There are millions of us around the world. We have a common core. It can be powerful.

And yet...

 

[MurrayM]

Warning...very depressing photos of plastics impact on sea birds:

https://www.plasticpollutioncoaliti...ross-an-icon-of-the-plastic-pollution-problem

Welcome to the Anthropocene.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. m. Stores have gone back to single use plastic bags instead of reusable ones due to potential transfer of the virus via bag contamination.



A 5 or 10 cent cost for a single use bag is not really any incentive for the public to not use them. Outright banning seems to be the only way to get rid of them.


What can we do? As much as I think Greta got her priorities mixed, perhaps someone can convince her to get on the plastic bandwagon.


As far as recycling the single use bags and the non profitability...It's not just the US that ships plastic waste to third world countries, it's MOST developed countries in the world. NO country that I'm aware of has the technology to treat this type of waste. Once it's out of sight and ends up in Indonesia, it's gone with regards to the exporting country. Thing is, Indonesia doesn't have the technology either and it simply ends up in the waterways and ultimately the oceans.



Yup. Yet again, follow the $$.

 

[BruceK]

I think most receiving countries stopped accepting plastics, some even sent it back. Often it was contaminated with non recyclables. Banning supermarket bags has helped here, now we carry ones the supermarkets sell us to reuse and reuse. You get used to it, eventually. But there are so many kinds of plastic,I fear it`s a losing battle.

 

[lwarden]

Back to the original post. I would fully support a ban on mylar balloons. They are a real problem in Southern California, especially when we have Santa Ana winds which blow from the east. Sometimes the ocean is littered with the damn things. One of the local fishing websites started a contest to encourage anglers to gather them up giving prizes away regularly. I even won myself. I gather them every time I can stop. One time coming back from Catalina around Valentines Day there were so many red balloons I just had to give up or I was never going to make it home.

https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/t...k-bigger-and-better-and-it-starts-now.679096/

 

[BDofMSP]

The day my delivery captains were heading up Lake Michigan there was some fog. They got 22 visually confirmed false radar targets from Mylar balloons. Funny until you stop taking them seriously and miss a real target.
BD

 

[Bacchus]

Bacchus, I think the issue is recycling is not profitable so really of minimum interest to the private sector.

The US is hesitant to introduce additional costly local "public utilities," which frankly I get to a degree.

But we have to get to a common ground - to somehow incentivising non-use of single use plastics while incentivising recycling.

Exactly my point!
If doing the "right" things re recycle aren't "profitable" on their own maybe there needs to be some incentives / offsets derived from the bad products to make recycle work. Use "excess" bottle deposits to help recycle NOT move to general fund to spend somewhere else.
Why wouldn't a fixed price per KWH be fair?
Use the difference in production costs to help subsidize more costly "green" sources... at least to get them up and running.

 

[jleonard]

So two thoughts.

Why would they suspend a 10 cents per bag charge due to COVID? It really is more of a message than a hardship.

And if people hadn't already started using reusable bags because of the extra charge prior to COVID, then it really isn't "sticking."

So a re-look is probably needed.

I assume they do not want people to bring their possibly contaminated bags into the store. The cashiers and packers will not pack into them
They only want to pack into fresh new bags.
And this is Ct so logic has no part in this play

 

[Moby Nick]

We use fabric reusable bags for groceries, but also - - -

save small plastic bags for poop bags when walking the dog. It saves on not ever buying dedicated "poop bags".

 

[Dougcole]

You all are right on the money with avoiding using unnecessary plastic. I run three or four plastic cleanups each year for Keen footwear in the Keys and it's abhorrent how much trash we pull out of the mangroves. Last year we filled two 22 foot Carolina skiffs and a 30 foot Parker to the gunnels from one island alone.


It's crazy how pervasive plastic has become in our lives in places we don't need it. There is a long thread on this very forum about coffee makers where many extol the virtues of the "K" machines. Unless you use the refillable cups, those things are an environmental nightmare. How hard is it to scoop coffee into a coffee maker?



And yes, Menzies is correct, taking care of our environment should have nothing whatsoever to do with what political team you choose to cheer for. Allowing political parties to divide us along these lines just means that little to nothing gets done. The tactics of focusing on the extremes used by both the left and the right to create divisiveness are disgusting and counter productive to what we need as a country.



Thanks for starting this thread.

 

[O C Diver]

There is definitely a need for one use bags. Maybe we can experiment with making them out of a biodegradable substance.......like paper.

While we're at it, maybe we could get the fast food industry to try biodegradable packaging like waxed paper containers and cups.

Ted

 

[Dougcole]

There is definitely a need for one use bags. Maybe we can experiment with making them out of a biodegradable substance.......like paper.

While we're at it, maybe we could get the fast food industry to try biodegradable packaging like waxed paper containers and cups.

Ted

Agreed.


Honestly, in our cleanups we don't pick up very many plastic grocery bags. Lots and lots and lots of commercial fishing waste and quite a bit of packaging. Pill bottles are common and a surprising number of toothbrushes. Just so you know that I'm not pointing a finger at other industries and a blind eye at my own, shoes are also present in large numbers. Crocs and cheap flip flops seem to be the most likely shoes to end up in the ocean.


The only real hope is for manufacturers to move away from plastic packaging wherever possible. We just can't pick it all up, and where would we put it even if we could?


I see no reason whatsoever for Mylar balloons to exist.

 

[RT Firefly]

https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...ium-shortage-balloons-parties-mri/1116242001/

 

[rgano]

We use reusable for grocery shopping but there is still plenty of plastic going out the doors.

They now charge you for plastic bags in the UK and Ireland, forcing people to buy reusables.

Why not in the US? 5 cents a plastic bag. 4 cents of that to a education and recycling program. Even though its a drop in the shopping bucket people are funny about paying any small amount for "nothing!" Plus it may make them think.

And now we are hearing the grocery store here will not allow re-usable bags due to Covid.

 

[sbman]

The balloons make no sense at all while at the same time many places have banned the single use bags. Helium balloons in general should no longer be sold, Helium is also a finite, precious resource that is wasted with the sale of these items.

As to plastic waste in general, bag bans aren't always as effective as you might think. Studies on 'leakage' and data from California's bag bans shows that it pushes consumers to buy fewer, but heavier bags to offset the lack of 'single use' ones that are no longer available to reuse for things like trash can lining, dog poop collection, etc... many people were already reusing the so called 'single use' bags and now have to buy dedicated bags.

 

[JamieM]

Sable Island sits in the Atlantic Ocean about 140 miles east of Nova Scotia. It is inhabited by a few scientists and about 500 ponies. The island is really a drifting sand dune. Sitting in the Gulf Stream practically every Mylar balloon released on the US east coast finds its way to Sable Island. Thousands and thousands of balloons. If they don’t come by sea they come by air as prevailing winds blow them up the coast.

Sable Island is one of Canada’s National Parks and as such we Canadians want to keep it in pristine condition. If Americans would just take a minute and look at the damage they are doing to this amazing Island I am hopeful they would stop releasing balloons of any kind.

 

[hollywood8118]

It is amazing how totally ignorant people are. I think "Marine life matters too" Our sea creatures have no opportunity to make a better life for themselves we humans need to do things that don't degrade their life. That is my thoughts. Just so everyone understands I think every life matters which includes all living creatures. I do believe humans can make a choice as to the quality of their life.

And a lot of them taste really good too!


HOLLYWOOD

 

[MurrayM]

And a lot of them taste really good too!


HOLLYWOOD

Humans?

I saw a t-shirt someone made in art school way back in the early 80's that said, "In America, as well as in civilized countries, the eating of Human flesh is taboo"

Always kicked myself for not buying one.

(Poodle with a mohawk was another good one from the era someone from Vancouver might remember)