I never expected to hear grown adults crying about their access to balloons. The growing problems of plastic waste and pollution are increasingly well known and it is good to see councils, governments and corporations beginning to take notice. We should all be trying to reduce our use of plastic at an individual level. I don't suggest we can easily avoid this ubiquitous material completely, but where there are easy alternatives to plastic, we should take advantage of them. Accordingly, the decision by Kingborough Council to not use balloons at their events to reduce their environmental impact seems a no-brainer. So I was both surprised and disappointed by the reporting of the decision and commentary on social media. I will never truly be surprised by inaccurate or hyperbolic reporting in the Mercury (or any other Murdoch paper for that matter), but I am surprised, as why would grown adults make such a fuss about balloons? Hearing nonsensical arguments that not providing balloons to children will be any kind of loss to them is a bit hard to take seriously. Let’s not kid ourselves. Children can entertain themselves with any toys or equipment- and with none! They certainly won’t suffer for a lack of balloons. Any adults complaining on their behalf must be looking really hard for something to complain about.
I hope Kingborough Council will not be discouraged by the poor coverage of the decision. I have rarely had much positive to say about them, but in this case I hope other councils follow their example.
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