Motivated by what proponents say are environmental concerns, some municipalities in the U.S. are beginning to ban the sale of balloons filled with helium or other lighter-than-air gas, a restriction that balloon sellers in the promotional products industry and beyond criticize as misguided and ill-informed.

On Wednesday, Jan. 19, the city of Encinitas, CA’s local government voted to enact an ordinance that prohibits wholesalers, retailers and vendors from selling balloons with helium or other gas that weighs less than air.

City council members said the prohibition, which is set to take effect 30 days after the governing body’s next planned meeting on Feb. 9, approved the regulation in the Southern California beach town to help reduce plastic pollution. Council members believe the balloons are a significant part of the litter that causes marine debris, posing a danger to sea life, birds and other animals.

The vote in Encinitas came about a month after the town of East Hampton, NY, instituted essentially the same ban. Southampton, NY, passed similar legislation in June.

In a mid-December vote, the East Hampton Town Board modified its town code to include a prohibition on “any person, firm, corporation or other entity” engaging in “the sale or distribution of Mylar, foil, and/or any balloons filled with helium or any other type of lighter than air gas, whether for public or private use.”

In each instance in which bans were approved, proponents said the prohibitions are necessary to protect wildlife and the environment. Marine animals and birds may mistake discarded balloons for prey and ingest them, causing the wildlife to choke. Animals can also become entangled in balloon ribbons, resulting in injury or strangulation, ban proponents assert.

Daniel A Flynn, chief operating officer of supplier Pioneer Balloon Co. (asi/78200), which sells balloons in the promo products market, called the bans in Encinitas and elsewhere disappointing. He noted that The Balloon Council, a pro-balloon trade association, advocated against the prohibition in Encinitas.

“The city council based their decision on inaccurate information that was presented to them as facts by people who have chosen to make banning helium balloons their cause,” Flynn said. “We could find no retailers (in Encinitas) who sold balloons, so everyone on our side who presented information to the council was from outside of the city, and the council members gave greater credence to their misinformed residents than it did to our facts.”

Those facts, he asserted, are that balloons are “environmentally friendly.”

The Balloon Council elaborated on its website: “Latex balloons are produced from the sap of the rubber tree. It is collected without harming the tree by using an environmentally safe, age-old process similar to that used for collecting the sap from maple trees for syrup.”

The council continued: “A latex balloon is made from 100% organic material and is 100% biodegradable. Stress caused by inflation starts this decomposition cycle. Exposure to sunlight accelerates the process – oxygen and ozone continue the molecular attack, even in the dark. Deterioration is clearly evident within a few hours – it begins to oxidize or “frost” – and soon the balloon will break apart. Research has shown that under similar conditions, latex decomposes at the same rate as an oak leaf.”

Meanwhile, the other main type of balloon manufactured in the U.S. does not share the biodegradable qualities of latex balloons. This second type, commonly but mistakenly called Mylar, is made from metalized nylon (plastic) and is often referred to as silver balloons. “They are much more expensive than their latex cousins and are never used in balloon releases,” the council said.

Speaking of balloon releases: Bans on them have been spreading across the United States, again due to environmental concerns. The Balloon Council does not oppose release bans. “We stand with communities by encouraging that balloons be weighted, not released outdoors, and disposed of properly when broken or deflated,” the council said.

Taking such sensible steps like not releasing balloons would mitigate environmental concerns balloons raise, without having to institute outright bans on sales of balloons, pro-balloon advocates have maintained.

“Because we’ve seen similar attempts by activists in other small cities like Encinitas” to ban balloon sales, “Pioneer and the industry, through The Balloon Council, is focused on ensuring that true facts about the positive impact of balloons are better known and that misinformation is clearly addressed and corrected,” said Flynn. “We are working hard to educate decision-makers so they understand the facts.”