DEL MAR, Calif. — While cigarette butts are the top plastic pollutant along our coastline, there is another frequent plastic waste that pops up.
More often seen when it is time to celebrate dads, grads and the love of your life, helium-filled balloons litter our ocean and harm wildlife. That's why Del Mar is the latest city in San Diego County to ban the sale of helium-filled balloons.
"Balloons are just kind of bad news," exclaimed Del Mar resident Jeffrey Lehmann.
This is especially true when you think about the negative impacts they have on our environment. Out on one of his recent boating trips, Jeffrey spotted a faded metallic mylar balloon and posted his frustration on his social media.
"These things, they deflate, they look like jellyfish to turtles and also Mola Mola, which are those huge Sunfish, and it kills them," said Lehmann after retrieving the balloon from the water.
Jeffrey sails out from San Diego Bay about four to five times a month. Each time he said he sees roughly three to five clusters of them littering the Pacific Ocean. He has even seen them come from land and drift into the water.
So, when he brought this issue before the Del Mar city council, he was elated, not deflated with their decision.
"It's awesome! We're a progressive city here, and it was fun to go in. I thought I was going to have to do all this convincing and the city council basically said we are looking forward to hearing what you have to say, but we're already all for banning balloons," said Lehmann.
And Jeffrey wasn't the only person pushing for this ban in Del Mar. Mark O'Connor with the San Diego chapter of the Surfrider Foundation stood before the city council and thanked its members for protecting the local sea turtles and other marine life that mistaken a floating balloon as food.
O'Connor is also the local lead on the Rise Above Plastics initiative to eliminate plastic waste in our county.
With his collection of balloons in tow, Mark and I first met after the city of Encinitas passed the ban. Solana Beach was next and now Del Mar. That's now over 10 miles of our coastline protected from purchasing, releasing and using lighter-than-air mylar and latex balloons.
"You can still have a party and have an air balloon on a string and it's going to dangle and if it gets on the ground, somebody is going to be able to retrieve it and put it in the trash. So, the product is not totally banned. You can still have them used. Just not the ones that in that fleet little moment, you can't grab and bring back to Earth that's getting away from us and into the environment," said O'Connor.
Unfortunately, they are often seen littering our environment. Balloons have been seen flying into and getting tangled up in the desert landscape of Borrego Springs, which is hazardous to wildlife like desert tortoises.
From land to open waters, the celebratory symbol doesn't bring joy to the SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team who often retrieves them miles off our coastline. They also see the harm they cause to our marine life.
"Pretty much every time we go out there, we find floating plastic balloons on the water. We find trash. We've found trash bags. One time in particular, we found like 50 plastic balloons," said Jeni Smith, SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team Supervisor.
It's not just that they are mistaken for jellyfish and ingested by marine mammals, sea turtles and sea birds, the attached strings can get wrapped around their necks and restrict circulation. After finding a distressed animal, the rescue team will do x-rays and other diagnostic testing to help them.
Balloons are one problematic plastic waste ingested by animals. On a larger scale, all plastic poses a threat to our marine life. Smith recalls one rescue where a distressed adult female Sea Lion had a plastic water bottle lodged inside her esophagus.
"It could still breathe somehow. But eventually, you know, we would have to surgically remove that. And it can be, you know, not a happy ending for the animal, if they've ingested fishing lines, fishing hooks, plastic balloons, plastic water bottles, any sort of trash," said Smith.
Collaborating with SeaWorld San Diego, Surfrider San Diego continues to work towards the ultimate goal of having our county free of balloon pollution and eliminating all plastic waste.
"These creatures can't tell us what's wrong, they have to be so sick they wash up and try to get help. So, it's all about the environment. It's all about our own personal health. We gotta keep this clean and healthy," said O'Connor.
So, please be mindful before your next celebration.
The Surfrider Balloon Committee would like anyone interested in helping get rid of balloon pollution in their city to email the Rise Above Plastic committee at : RAP@sandiego.surfrider.org
Additionally, if you have a plastic waste you want eliminated or to volunteer with Surfrider San Diego, you can find more information at sandiego.surfrider.org.
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