Hours after helium balloons are released in cities and suburbs, they’re creating a dangerous problem for the natural world.
They can easily reach heights of up to 3km in the sky, and be blown for hundreds or even thousands of kilometres across land and sea.
While they look incredible while floating above, their brightly coloured plastics are often mistaken for food by marine turtles, birds, fish, dolphins and whales.
And their long nylon strings can become entangled around the legs and bodies of wildlife.
While most states have banned plastic bags, helium balloon releases are still a major problem.
They are so problematic that in 2025, the federal government added them to its target list of “problematic and unnecessary plastics” that need “harmonised” policies across the nation.
Advocacy group No Balloon Release Australia believes this is an issue that urgently needs to be addressed by the government.
“It’s something that people just don’t think about — that at some point a balloon is going to come back to earth,” spokesperson Karen Joynes told Yahoo News.
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Jars at Taronga Zoo containing plastics that have been taken from marine mammals.
Aren’t balloon releases banned?
Legislation to ban balloon releases was introduced by the NSW Labour Government in the Lower House this week and passed with support from the Greens.
Member for Balmain, Kob Shetty, backed the bill, and later told Yahoo News it was a “great step forward” for the state’s wildlife.
“Balloons are one of the most dangerous forms of plastic pollution for wildlife and are 32 times more likely to kill seabirds than hard plastics when ingested,” she said.
But it’s unclear whether the Liberals and Nationals will support the legislation in the Upper House, as the measure is contained within a wider bill aimed at tackling other single-use plastics.
In the meantime, it remains legal to release up to 19 helium balloons into the sky.
The same outdated rule applies in the ACT, while plans to ban the practice across the Top End have yet to be implemented.
No Balloon Release Australia is urging residents of these states to do the right thing in the meantime.
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Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania all have strict bans on releases, while over in South Australia, the act is considered illegal littering.
Rather than having separate state-based regulations that are hard to enforce, Joynes believes more stringent helium restrictions are the key to solving the issue.
“Even with bans in place, people are still going to be releasing balloons illegally,” she said.
“So we need to regulate it so you can’t use it to fill balloons.”
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