5. Choices: usefulness and necessity of balloons

The risk of wildlife suffering or dying from balloons may be best balanced against usefulness or necessity of balloons released. Latex weather-balloons are an essential element for reliable weather forecasts to the extent that human lifes may be affected. But the short joy of a mass of party balloons disappearing into the sky? It is also an option to fix balloons as a decoration at the location, enjoy them for the full duration of the festivity, and in the end take them down to be discarded properly.

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5 Small facts about balloon debris
The aftermath of balloon releases on the beach: the photograph shows the balloon remains collected on just 500 meters of tidelines on the North Sea beach of island of Ameland in the Netherlands (2012). Besides ribbons and latex parts, on the right side the photograph shows a number of plastic foil (‘Mylar’) balloons, that don’t degrade at all!
The aftermath of balloon releases on the beach: the photograph shows the balloon remains collected on just 500 meters of tidelines on the North Sea beach of island of Ameland in the Netherlands (2012). Besides ribbons and latex parts, on the right side the photograph shows a number of plastic foil (‘Mylar’) balloons, that don’t degrade at all!
Remains of weather balloon scan be found regularly on our beaches.
Remains of weather balloon scan be found regularly on our beaches.
Many weather stations all around the globe release on a daily basis large latex balloons with various data recording systems attached. High in the atmosphere (20-30 km), with reducing airpressure and cold temperatures, the balloons burst and remains fall down. ,
Many weather stations all around the globe release on a daily basis large latex balloons with various data recording systems attached. High in the atmosphere (20-30 km), with reducing airpressure and cold temperatures, the balloons burst and remains fall down. ,

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