Of Plastic Bags and Balloons....

There's something i've been wanting to post on for a while, and a post by NEA reminded me about it. Check out this slideshow NEA linked to on "Why Plastic Bags Should be Banned' (use the scroll on the right to scroll down). Good smattering of facts and pictures to illustrate a really good point. 

So these pictures are what I wanted to post, they are from 2000m depth in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (1000 nautical miles from anywhere). Recognise it? - 

It's a mylar balloon. Those silver type balloons sold with helium in them and pretty ribbons. The silver has washed out leaving it clear, and it's wrapped around a deep-sea coral. I really dislike these balloons. Admittedly places now tend to sell them with a weight attached so they don't fly away, but some do still escape. We often see trash in the deep ocean, but it amazed us all when we saw this. Who knows where it came from. 

If you're going to get helium balloons, please get the latex ones which are natural and will biodegrade easily (and are cheaper than the metallic ones too!). If you're going to put a ribbon on them, use biodegradeable ribbon, or tie a weight to it so they don't fly away. These balloons do end up somewhere when they fly away, they don't just disappear.....