Vancouver balloon artists rise up against proposed ban

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Balloon artists are protesting a proposed bill to ban the party favourites at all Vancouver parks and recreation centres, saying the restriction would deflate their business and ignores the complexity of the litter problem.

The motion, floated by Vancouver Park Board (VPB) commissioner Stuart Mackinnon, would have banned all plastic or latex balloons because, the motion states, they pollute and threaten the health of wildlife and children who can become sick or die if they eat the blow-up toys or become tangled in their strings.

Artist Kristal Yee says balloons have become a scapegoat for a much wider litter issue.

“They’re very bright. They’re very obvious. But if you’re saying animals are going to be picking up pieces to eat them, they’re also going to be picking up cigarette butts, candy wrappers, the tabs off of pop or beer cans,” Yee said during a protest at Trout Lake on Monday. “I think that banning balloons as a whole is the easy way out in terms of working with us to figure out what the actual problem is.”

As a professional, Yee said she and other artists make sure they pick up all the pieces of their work, and she personally doesn’t give balloons to children under three years of age.

Although she could not speak to foil balloons, Yee said her natural rubber latex balloons are reusable and biodegradable, but may still take years to fully break down.

A ban for birthday parties and festivals, such as the Pride Parade, would also hurt the business of many local balloon artists.

Any pro-environment balloon artist would not condone the mass release of balloons, Yee said, because they know what goes up, will eventually come down, and no one may be around to pick up the pieces. The Pro Environment Balloon Artist group recently formed to promote the education of balloon safety and environmental protection.

“Like everything else, you have responsible and irresponsible citizens,” she said. “Instead of just banning balloons, just implement those (litter) fines. If they were going to put the manpower behind having people around to enforce the ban, they have the manpower to walk people around and do fines.”

The proposal was rejected by the VPB.

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