An eastern North Carolina Republican State Senator has introduced a bill to ban balloon releases statewide, and wildlife and environmental groups are applauding the move. Currituck County Senator Bobby Hanig’s Senate Bill 20 would make the intentional release of balloons illegal, with a fine of $250 per balloon for violations. Hannig first introduced the bill in last year’s short session, but the Senate didn’t act on it. He reintroduced it early this year.
Read the full text of the bill HERE.
Supporters say balloon releases harm the state's scenic beauty and pose a danger to wildlife and marine animals.
Debbie Swick is the founder of Ban Balloon Releases N.C., and is behind the effort to impose a statewide ban. The Outer Banks activist said, “They release them for weddings, graduations, gender reveals and, sadly, for memorials.”
She started the organization after seeing a balloon release on television in 2023. “It was for a young lady that had passed away in Virginia,” she explained, “They let go hundreds of pink and yellow balloons against the North Carolinian blue sky, and it just moved me. It bothered me. It stirred something in me. I started to sob uncontrollably. So I knew I had to pay attention. Something was telling me to pay attention to this this year.”
Initially, Swick worked to get local governments to ban mass balloon releases – and was in touch with leaders of all of the state’s 100 counties. “Some counties had a resounding support, but they had to vote on it. Some counties said, ‘Well, it's not in our area. We don't really see balloons,’ she said. “And, so, it was a quite a mission for the past year.”
But Swick said balloons don’t have to be released on the beach to have an impact on ocean creatures because, “A helium balloon when it's released travels an average of 1,300 miles, so any balloon released east of the Mississippi River has the potential of landing in the Atlantic Ocean.”
Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Executive Director Kathy Zagzebski said released balloons that float back down to Earth can have a negative impact on eastern North Carolina’s endangered species.
“This turtle came in after having accidentally been hooked,” she said. “We were able to remove the hook and a couple days later we noticed something purple coming out from under its tail, out of its cloaca, which is the opening under its tail. Took a closer look and it turned out it was a purple balloon and about 2 1/2 feet of ribbon.” Fortunately, the turtle was able to pass the balloon with some help, but Zagzebski said the balloon and the ribbon attached to it could have damaged its digestive system, which can be fatal.
And she agreed that balloons also spoil the beauty of the region’s stunning beaches. “We not only see balloons inside our turtles, but when our beach volunteers who walk the beach and monitor for sea turtle tracks and nests, every single day it seems that they're picking up balloons,” Zagzebski said.
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Mammalogy Research Curator Dr. Michael Cove said discarded balloons floating in the ocean look like prey that many majestic ocean creatures eat – like squid and jellyfish. “These balloons, once they're kind of floating out there in the open water, they tend to look similar, very similar to a lot of the prey items to so many of our cetaceans, whales, whales and dolphins,” Cove explained.
In November 2023, a live Gervais' Beaked Whale washed up in Emerald Isle and died soon after, and Cove said it died from swallowing a balloon. He said, “That can cause impactions where their guts kind of get blocked up and, unfortunately, in some cases like the Gervais's beaked whale that washed up in Emerald Isle a few years ago, that was that was the definitive cause of death was just getting totally blocked up by consuming a mylar balloon.”
Samantha Krop is the Neuse Riverkeeper and Sound Rivers’ Director of Advocacy, and she said the issue of balloon releases is a statewide problem and doesn’t just impact coastal North Carolina.
One of the organization’s projects involves placing trash traps in ENC rivers and streams, and she said, “The whole point of the trash traps is to passively intersect litter as it makes its way from our streets and sidewalks and rooftops and other impervious surfaces into creeks, and to intercept it before it gets to the sound and before it gets to the ocean.”
Krop said 95 percent of the trash that ends up in those traps is plastic. “Plastics are breaking down into microplastics, and when we looked at microplastics, the majority of those were coming from things like polyethylene, so things like bags, films and containers,” she said, and added, “Balloons are a part of that largest category of what we're seeing in the form of microplastics.”
Of opposition to the proposed balloon release ban, Ban Balloon Releases N.C. founder Swick said she sometimes hears that it’s a tradition held dear for many – particularly after a loved one’s death.
“The balloons don't go to heaven, and I can say that with the utmost conviction in my heart, they do not go to heaven,” she said, “They do wind up coming back down the earth, whether they've exploded at the atmospheric level or they just drift into the ocean and then get blown back. Whatever the case is -- or they get stuck in trees for us to pass by as we're driving. They don't go to heaven.”
The bill is currently in the Rules and Operations Committee of the Senate. It includes a few limited exceptions, such as balloons released for scientific or meteorological purposes and hot air balloons that are recovered.
