Plastic rocks on an isolated island
The sombre message of stones made of plastic found on an uninhabited island far from the Brazilian coast.
Norway bans helium balloons
Amsterdam, 10 May 2018. Norway celebrates Independence Day on 17 May. Countless balloons are usually released during the celebrations. But this is now being banned.
The sale of helium balloons was already banned in Skien, Porsgrunn, Drammen, Bodø, Kristiansand, Halden and Arendal last year. The larger cities – Bergen, Haugesund, Tromsø, Fredrikstad, Stavanger and Oslo – also followed suit. The number of towns has now grown to more than 30. None of these places now issues permits for helium filled balloons to be sold. The call for a national ban is getting louder and the Norwegian Parliament declared a national ban on 4 May.
Jeroen Dagevos, Head of Programmes at the Plastic Soup Foundation commends this stand. “We don’t have any problems with balloons, only with balloons that are released. The easiest way to avoid this is to ban the use of helium for balloons. The Netherlands would do well do follow the example of Norway.”
Read more: Plastic cotton buds are on the way out but not yet the Netherlands
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