Should the Indianapolis 500 discontinue its annual balloon release?
CLOSE IndyStar's Emily Hopkins shares findings from an 11-month experiment to see how fast balloons biodegrade, ahead of the Indy 500 balloon release. Jenna Watson, [email protected]
Even the Balloon Council, which represents the industry, changed its stance on balloon releases last year from neutral to opposed. The group now recommends that balloons be weighted or tied down, and then popped and disposed of after they're used. Ahead of the balloon release last year, IndyStar received complaints and Damron defended the tradition, highlighting its use of balloons that are “are 100 percent biodegradable" and made from natural rubber latex.
The final pair of balloons – the pair exposed to the actual elements – fared much worse. The one that was under the compost pile is much more brittle and less elastic than the unexposed balloons. Even though Indiana is virtually landlocked, Nelson said, the balloons released here can find their way to the ocean.Katie Register, a executive director at Clean Virginia Waterways at Longwood University, was not surprised to hear that the balloon in the compost pile was the most degraded. That’s where the material would have been much more exposed to bacteria.
According to the study, balloons found along Virginia beaches may have been released as many as 1,400 miles away, based on the graphics printed on the balloons.
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