A third Massachusetts town to ban balloon releases?

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A third Massachusetts town to ban balloon releases?

January 06, 2019 - 13:02
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It is possible that Orleans will soon join Chatham and Nantucket in Massachusetts, and ban the sale and distribution of balloons inflated with helium or other lighter-than-air gas.

A Mylar balloon spotted littering an Oxfordshire verge, June 2018 | Image Credit / Copyright Rosemary E Lunn All Rights Reserved

On Wednesday 2 January 2019 the Board of Selectmen agreed that Orleans residents would have the opportunity to discuss the proposed bylaw at a public hearing.

No person shall throw deposit, discard, or otherwise discharge inflated or uninflated balloons into any street, alley, waterway, park, beach or other public place in the town of Orleans. Proposed bylaw

The bylaw would also prohibit the release of any type of balloon.

At present the balloon ban bylaw would become effective on 15 September 2019. After this date only USA Government agencies or scientific organisations would be allowed to release balloons, ie a weather balloon.

The goal is to reduce the environmental hazard that balloons pose to wild and marine life by the release and improper disposal of balloons.

Once in place the bylaw would be enforced by the police, and anyone who violates the law would face a non-criminal fine of up to $50.

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