Who Says You Can't Have Eco-Friendly Balloons?
Whilst we know that sustainability isn’t the first word to come to mind when you think of balloon decor, it is extremely important to us as a company and as individuals and is something that we place at the forefront of our work. Keep reading to learn about the efforts that Balloonista make to ensure that our planet is looked after.
We only use naturally sourced latex
At Balloonista, all of our balloon installations and all of our latex balloons are made using high quality natural latex. This is sourced from Rainforest Alliance certified and Forest Stewardship Council plantations. This supports work to build healthy rainforests, thriving communities and helps to fight climate change.
Whilst Balloonista’s bespoke balloon installations are extravagant and typically very large, you may be surprised to see how small the quantity of latex that is left over is once the installations are taken down.
As you can see from the pictures below, once taken down this 2.5m x 2.5m balloon arch, leaves only this tiny amount of latex. Additionally, this latex is all biodegradable and will typically biodegrade at the same rate as an oak leaf.
We care about what happens to our balloons after your celebrations
Whilst we know that balloon releases add a fun and instagrammable touch to celebrations they are extremely detrimental to the environment. Some of the devastating effects of these include;
- What goes up must come down – balloons can travel a few thousand miles and following their journeys the deflated balloons fall back to earth in the form of litter. Whilst our latex balloons are biodegradable, unfortunately neither foil balloons or ribbons that balloons are attached to are not.
- Birds, fish and animals can be harmed by becoming entangled in ribbons and can also be harmed by ingesting latex or foil balloons.
- As well as creating litter and not biodegrading, foil balloons can cause power outages when they become entangled in power lines.
For these reasons, we are passionate about advising our clients against balloon releases and wherever possible we ensure that our balloons are given a new lease of life or appropriately disposed of.
We are partnered with several charities that are close to our hearts and where possible we donate balloons after installation takedowns. This gives the balloons a new lease of life and extends the joy that they bring.
Here are some Christmas trees which we created in a local church and in the children’s ward at the Princess Royal University Hospital using balloons that we had given a second life to after previous installations.
In cases where we aren’t able to give balloons a new lease of life, we dispose of the latex balloons responsibly, using biodegradable bags. This ensures that all of our latex waste will biodegrade in a matter of months and we are not contributing to the landfill mountains.
We often use props in our balloon installations and we always reuse these wherever possible. We also invest in recyclable props so that once they are no longer used by ourselves, we can give the materials a new lease of life.
We have our own Plastic Party Swap Shop Facebook Group
We see firsthand how much waste there are from parties so we have created this space where we encourage people from our local community to share plastic or foil party items from banners to balloons to plates and cups that are either unused or used but in good condition.
We are proud members of 1% for the Planet
1% for the Planet is a global organisation which drives positive change for our planet and future generations. It inspires businesses and individuals to support Environmental Partners through membership as well as everyday actions.
Since joining last year, we have donated £3,600 and Balloonista remains committed to donating 1% of our annual revenue to our partnered charities. These are:
- Women in Ocean Science believes that supporting women is protecting the ocean. Their work is based around empowering women to thrive in marine science and conservation industries.
- Sea Shepherd UK work to conserve marine ecosystems, habitats and species in the UK and all over the world. They accomplish this via public education, investigation and documentation. By safeguarding the biodiversity of oceanic ecosystems they are working to ensure their survival for future generations.
- The Bike Project provides refugees and asylum seekers without the means or money to travel with unwanted and abandoned bikes throughout the UK.
We use solely electric vans for our London deliveries
Whether the Balloonista team are travelling across London to create a huge balloon installation or are just dropping off a couple of balloons, we will be travelling via one of our electric vans. Our environmental impact is something that is always at the forefront of our minds, and switching to solely electric vehicles was an easy way to reduce our carbon footprint.
The benefits of the use of electric vehicles rather than fuel vehicles include;
- Less pollution; which leads to an improvement in air quality and the prevention of diseases that are caused by breathing unclear air.
- Renewable energy; it has inspired more creativity that is helping to replace the use of fossil fuels to power other types of machinery.
- Eco-friendly materials; are preferred by most electric vehicle manufacturers. As well as reducing the use of fossil fuels, electric vehicles are often manufactured using recycled materials.
- Reducing climate change; as transport and manufacturing sectors are the biggest contributors to climate change by their fuel emissions, pure electric vehicles will eliminate these emissions entirely.
Let us know what you do to live sustainably at @Balloonistaco.
Absolutely love this post and love what measures you take to ensure sustainability remains at the core of what you create!
Thank you for your support Val. We do everything we can to educate and help. Best wishes from the Balloonista Team.