Govt response to Balloon Release petition.

Dan Salter · #1 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 01:08 PM

Hmmm...got a response today from the Mass Balloon release petition. I feel the author has not really researched the problem and has used the industry responses of biodegradable latex etc etc....but...there ARE some interesting positives too...see what you think?...I might hang around village fetes and make citizens arrests at the point balloons are relased ha ha

Balloons - epetition response | Number10.gov.uk

tameblackbirds · #2 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 02:49 PM

I'll stand behind you Dan

But agree releasing them as always concerned me and I talked my school out of it as part of its 80 yrs celebration

Lancashire Lad · #3 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 03:12 PM

Mass balloon releases are one of my pet hates.

There are far more environmentally friendly ways to raise funds than this sort of organised and potentially wildlife lethal littering.

As for the govenment response statement (quote from the linked article) "Latex is a natural material which usually disintegrates at a high level in the atmosphere." - What a completely stupid statement

The only thing likely to happen to any such balloon at high level would be that it bursts due to the fall in external atmospheric pressure, in relation to its internal pressure. (Basic physics - Boyles Law - it's not rocket science.

).

Yet again our incompetent governmental bodies are proved incapable of climbing off the fence and making a simple decision.

These mass releases should be banned - no argument.

Regards,
Mike.

Gaina · #4 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 03:14 PM

What I want to know is 'how long does bio-degradable latex take to degrade and does this happen before it gets into the digestive tract of some poor turtle which then starves to death?'.

Gill Catton · #5 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 06:24 PM

I'd be tempted to buy 200 balloons and spread them (deflated and with no ribbons) around their office car park or better still gardens and see how they like it - they could hardly prosecute on grounds of littering could they!! (though I suppose then there'd be risks to hedgehogs?)

2dogs2000 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 08:48 PM

I have taken the details as a colleague and I are in the process of trying to get this banned at our school.

Dan Salter · #7 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I'd be tempted to buy 200 balloons and spread them (deflated and with no ribbons) around their office car park or better still gardens and see how they like it - they could hardly prosecute on grounds of littering could they!! (though I suppose then there'd be risks to hedgehogs?)

Thats actually a bloody good idea lets do it!!!!

And in reply to a previous im may be wrong but i read that a latext balloon takes as long to biodegrade as an oak leaf...they actually use this statement as a positive?...until somoene pointed out how long an oak leaf actually takes to biodegrade?....long enough to kill a few hundred turtles i suspect!.

Gill Catton · #8 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Thats actually a bloody good idea lets do it!!!!

And in reply to a previous im may be wrong but i read that a latext balloon takes as long to biodegrade as an oak leaf...they actually use this statement as a positive?...until somoene pointed out how long an oak leaf actually takes to biodegrade?....long enough to kill a few hundred turtles i suspect!.

Well I remember from my a levels that it takes ten years for one cm of soil to form In a deciduous woodland so that sounds like a long time to me.....