No Balloon Release SRP

Source Reduction Plan (SRP) Overview

Name of SRP

Partners Delivering the SRP

Tangaroa Blue Foundation – Keegan Vickers & Mathilde Gordon
No Balloon Release Australia – Karen Joynes
Owens Wildlife Adventures – Owen Harris
Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre – Jennie Gilbert
Videographer: Gus Burrows, Styledia

Location

Great Barrier Reef QLD
Online (national)

Photo 1

Evidence of the issue

Photo 2

Evidence of SRP resources

Photo 3

Evidence of positive outcomes

Overall Goals & Background

Targeted Debris

Balloons – latex & mylar/helium
Ribbon – non-woven poly satin, nylon or polyester material

Why is the SRP needed?

Once released, helium balloons can drift for hundreds of kilometres before descending or bursting to produce many fragments that also descend. Often, these end up in the ocean. Marine animals can mistake them for food and swallow them or become entangled in the attached ribbon. Such encounters can lead to loss of limbs, drowning or starvation for turtles, seabirds, whales, dolphins, and dugongs. In Queensland, the release of balloons into the environment is considered littering under the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011—whether released deliberately or by accident.

Despite Queensland being an early adopter of legislation that deems balloons to be litter, we still regularly find balloon debris on clean-ups across Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.

At the time, the QLD educational content on balloons, balloon releases and their impact on the environment and wildlife was long (greater than 5 minutes), contained conflicting information, was not specifically relevant to the state of Queensland/Great Barrier Reef catchment area and is not backed up by statistics.

Tangaroa Blue has been vocal in the balloon release debate for many years and is a strong partner with No Balloon Release Australia.
We wanted to create a more fit-for-purpose informational campaign that is accurate and solutions-focused, limiting distressing content and highlighting alternatives. We are also able to provide credible data for the campaign with statistics from the AMDI Database.

Logistics

Timeline and Project Goals

July 2022 – August 2023

Confirm budget for video
Contact videographers – obtain initial availability, quotes
Begin crafting creative vision for video (draft storyboard ideas)
Decide on celebrations to highlight and appropriate alternatives

September – November 2022

Confirm videographer
Confirm video type/style (animated, etc.)
Continue crafting storyboards

December 2022

Confirm storyboards
Pre-production budget & materials
Pre-production shot list finalised

January 2023

Video interviewees finalised
Obtain stock footage

March 2023

Interview scripts finalised
Filming & editing occurs

April 2023

Filming & editing occurs

May 2023

Filming & editing occurs
Production complete
Website landing page created

June 2023

Video shared on social media, through partners

Goals

Create a clear and concise informative video to discourage balloon use and balloon releases in the GBR catchment area.
Build awareness that releasing balloons is considered littering or illegal dumping (QLD Waste Reduction and Recycling Act of 2011)
Urge individuals to mark significant occasions (birthdays, gender reveals, celebrations, promotions, memorials, etc) with eco-friendly alternatives to balloons, such as paper decorations, potted plants, or digital greetings.
Promote the importance of individual actions – individuals CAN make a significant difference in this problem
Recommend greater helium regulation under the National Plastics Plan (regulating the sale of helium for inflating balloons would help prevent them from being released in the first place)

Overall, the aim is to see a reduction in the amount of balloon releases made by the public and, therefore, see a reduction in balloon marine debris in the AMDI database.

Measuring Success

One asset was created and delivered: a Short video (1-2 mins) appropriate for sharing on social media.

The target audience consists of current Tangaroa Blue Foundation followers and the general public. We aimed to promote balloon debris-consciousness and change the public’s perception of balloon releases.

We measure community engagement through;

Social media: share videos on social media channels & track engagement (views, likes, shares, etc)
Website Landing page for project with project background, petition, balloon alternatives (track views/traffic)
Community engagement/outreach – Community engagement mainly through social media posts and production
National Plastics Plan – greater regulation of helium use for inflating balloons

Data Collection & Reporting

Data was quantified through video outreach, social media metrics, and overall engagement across social platforms, as well as AMDI Database data comparisons.

Results and Reflections

Positive Outcomes

We have achieved a significant milestone in creating an impactful and hopeful informational campaign. It is accurate, solutions-focused, and has a limited amount of distressing content, while effectively highlighting alternatives.

Views/Downloads;

No Balloon Release short film: 124

No Balloon Release Action Guide 2019: 684
No Balloon Release Fact Sheet 2023: 337
No Balloon Release Action Guide 2023: 20

Social Media;
July 2023 Facebook Post (with resources) – 11 Likes, 2 shares, 324 reach
July 2023 Instagram Post (with video) – 22 Likes, 114 reach

Funding

Costs for assets: $5000

Challenges & Improvements

Some challenges during the production of the video included:

Budget constraints: A longer film required more time and a higher budget than we had available. Animations were also quite expensive, so we selected a different video format. We opted for a shorter, high-impact video focused on offering alternative solutions to using or releasing balloons.
Maximizing budget: Kept video to 2 mins in length, limited time on the ground filming, limited videographer travel, used stock footage, had guests film themselves for interviews and send footage directly to videographer
Videographer Availability: Several videographers had already committed to other projects. Also, many were busier than usual with events and travel as COVID restrictions had eased. With the videography we used, we had to be more flexible with our schedule to accommodate the other projects he was working on and his travel schedule. Ensuring we responded promptly and gave feedback straight away assisted in moving things along.
Staff expertise: Worked closely with the videographer to create a product that matched our vision and met project outcomes while being realistic given the time and budget constraints.

Some improvements that could be made include:

Better analysis of how to engage people via social media. This resource could have been shared on social media as a series of Instagram posts
Only one short film was produced, and we would have liked to have created more 1-2 min videos and linked them together to create a longer film.

Future Opportunities

The video is still available to view and share on YouTube.

A positive outcome is it strengthened our relationship with partners: No Balloon Release Australia, Owen’s Wildlife Adventures, and Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre.

Future opportunities could involve;

Renewing the information into more digestible formats to engage a wider audience and re-sharing footage on social media at an appropriate time.
Considering a fresh campaign against balloon releases.
Consider a campaign against paper lanterns, which might be seen as more environmentally friendly but still have an environmental cost (as environmental litter, a hazard for wildlife, and a potential fire risk).