ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — As of Monday, July 1, it is against Florida law to intentionally release a balloon outside.
The legislature passed the balloon release ban this year, aiming to protect wildlife from getting entangled in or mistakenly eating deflated balloons that eventually fall back to earth.
"It’s hard not to, at some point, come across a balloon in the dune or in the trees or in the mangroves," Hunter Miller said.
Miller is a field campaigns manager for Oceana, an environmental advocacy organization. He and different groups that lobbied for a Florida-wide balloon release ban are thrilled to see it finally happen.
Miller told First Coast News, "Balloons are really harmful to our most vulnerable sea life, like sea turtles often mistake them for food" or get entangled in their ribbons.
"This is the third year we have run this bill. So, it took us three years to get it done," Jen Lomberk said. She is the Matanzas Riverkeeper who also pushed for the statewide ban which now makes it illegal to release a balloon outside.
"We find balloons out here all the time," she pointed to the river.
It’s believed much of the debris comes from organized balloon releases which often celebrate an event or remember a loved one.
The fine for violating this new balloon release law is $150, the same fine for littering.
Some cities in Northeast Florida have already implemented their own local balloon release bans. However, this new law covers the state.
St. Augustine created its own balloon release ban in 2021. A spokesperson for the St. Augustine Police Department told First Coast News the department has not issued any citations for releasing balloons since the local law was established.
While the sea turtle may be the poster child for this issue, inland wildlife is also affected by balloon trash. One of those animals is the cow.
"These balloons will pop inland, and land in hayfields. And then the balloons will get baled in with the hay and then fed to cows who are just indiscriminately eating the hay and indiscriminately eating the balloons," Lomberk said.
Miller said the Florida Cattlemen's Association supported the statewide balloon release ban.
"Even duck hunters who do duck hunting tours north of the Everglades" supported the bill, Miller noted.
The ban against balloon releases made for some strange bedfellows with the traditional conservation groups.
"I don’t think I’ve worked on an environmental campaign that had this harmony of support like this," he said.