'99 red balloons? Try hundreds': Parks Canada draws attention to helium balloon litter concerns

Hundreds of balloons picked up at Pelee Island Hundreds of balloons have been cleaned up at Pelee Island this year. It says this is an annual occurrence.

In posts on social media, Parks Canada is calling on people to "balloon responsibly" while revealing staff at Point Pelee National Park find hundreds of helium balloons along the Lake Erie shoreline each year.

In a Facebook post Wednesday morning, officials said while balloons might look pretty when floating through the air, once they pop it’s another story. It has renewed calls for municipal bans on releasing helium and mylar balloons.

"These things are nothing but a nuisance to animals, to wildlife, to farm equipment and we really need to do everything we can to stop this habit," said Town of Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy.

Earlier this year, Essex councillor Kim Verbeek called for a report on a balloon ban aimed at keeping helium and mylar ballons out of the sky.

Bondy said a balloon by-law remains a priority and that she expects to see more on the matter in the spring when a special one-hour council meeting on littering is held.

According to Bondy, a comprehensive review of the town's entire littering by-law is needed.

"We need to look at a holistic review of it because you can't convince me otherwise that letting off mylar balloons into the air is not littering in some form," Bondy said.

In a tweet on X, Parks Canada said helium balloons can tangle up wildlife including birds, fish, turtles, and small mammals, while also introducing microplastics into the environment.

It went on to urge people to think twice about buying helium balloons and to dispose of them properly if you do.

In an email to CTV News, Verbeek said she intends to use Parks Canada's posts as reason to urge administration to speed up the report.

"It's a big thing," Bondy explained.

"It's a problem that's not going away anytime soon."

Meantime, Bondy told CTV News the municipality is appealing to the province to put a deposit on more recyclables to addressing common littering patterns.

"We're looking to lobby the province to put a deposit on returnable things like on pop cans,” said Bondy.

“There's a lot of pop cans out there. If they were worth money, chances are they wouldn't be thrown out of vehicles, they would be kept. It's a bigger conversation than just balloons. It's looking at patterns and how we can amp our fines up for people dumping."

CTV News contacted Parks Canada for comment, but staff were unavailable as of news time.