Plastic trash is not just a problem in the oceans. The Great Lakes are filling up with plastic flotsam too.
From 2016 to 2018, more than 18,000 balloons or balloon pieces were collected along their shores, according to surveys gathered by Alliance for the Great Lakes.
Now a University of Michigan graduate student wants to continue the study of balloon waste in the Great Lakes and raise public awareness.
Lara O’Brien, a master’s student in the School for Environment and Sustainability, created a website to collect more data from cleanup volunteers about the amount of balloon plastic washing up on the shores.
Balloon plastic — which usually ends up in and around the lakes after helium balloon releases from events such as birthday parties, weddings, football games, and other celebrations — is particularly troublesome for wildlife who may mistake it for food.
As the scope of balloon trash and other plastic litter becomes clear, some environmental advocates have called for limits on balloon releases.
Five states have restrictions on the intentional release of balloons: California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. Lawmakers in several other states, including Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island are considering them.
Balloon manufacturers, predictably, have pushed back on this suggestion, arguing that demonizing an industry is not necessary or helpful. But regardless of whether lawmakers move to restrict the number of balloons that may be released in the region, consumers can make choices now that will help improve the environment.
For starters, we can quit sending helium balloons up into the environment in balloon releases. We understand, of course, that those balloons eventually come back to earth, often ending up in the lakes.
And we can pick up plastic and other garbage we find in and around the lakes.
Even better, once volunteers clean up a beach or shoreline or lakeside neighborhood, they can log in to Ms. O’Brien’s website to give her more data to better understand how plastic trash is affecting the Great Lakes.
To take the graduate student’s survey, visit https://arcg.is/1OfbKT.
First Published June 29, 2019, 4:00 a.m.
