Peel Preservation Group call for balloon ban for outdoor use

THE Peel Preservation Group is calling for balloons to be banned from outdoor use.

Committee member Melvyn Tuckey said a well supervised indoor children’s party should not be denied the joy of party balloon games, but the mass release of hundreds of balloons at outdoor functions was concerning.

“It may be a stunning and emotionally laden sight, but where are they going to land?” he said.

“Who in their right mind would tip 20 packets of uninflated balloons into Mandurah’s waterways?

“But the result is the same.

“If we are not to ban balloons entirely at least they should be restricted to indoor use and we need a warning on the packaging that balloons are detrimental to the environment if not disposed of properly.”

Mr Tuckey said the group was happy about plastic bags being banned in supermarkets from July.

“We are aware that the State Government is now considering extending the ban to include plastic drinking straws, balloons and microbeads,” he said.

“Our group is very supportive of this ban, along with a public education campaign.

“Surely there is a way to move towards biodegradable or re-usable drinking straws.

“Plastic drinking straws take several hundred years to break down before they become part of the toxic food chain.

“So what we discard deliberately or accidentally into the Peel estuary system will outlive our great-great-grandchildren.”

The PPG has been dedicated to protecting local wetlands, waterways and bushland since its inception in the late 1970s.

“This is often in the face of a huge impetus for exponential development, ever since Mandurah was discovered in the ’60s and ’70s as a great place to retire and subsequently a great place to raise a family,” Mr Tuckey said.

“Our group was instrumental in helping to save a substantial part of the Creery wetlands from the enormous pressures of development.”