Recycle = Repeat Customer 

World-wide environmental concerns have begun to change the level of conscientiousness in people everywhere. The green movement has taken hold and more and more households and businesses are doing their part to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. We in the balloon industry have always been comfortable knowing that our 100% latex products are ecologically friendly and now we’re becoming engaged in the conversation of recycling metallic balloons as well.

To that extent, members of the IBA Education Committee recently discussed the green movement and metallic balloon recycling. Committee members came up with an idea to promote recycling and get repeat business at the same time:  Recycle = Repeat Customer was born.

The concept works like this: At the point of sale, customers are encouraged to return their used balloons to the store to receive a discount toward their next purchase. Recycling of a balloon weight would yield an additional discount. The customer feels good about recycling and the retailer gets repeat business. The returned balloons can be reused in the store to cover weights, be used as packing material, or any number of everyday uses. Recycle = Repeat Customer can be worked many ways but it’s always a good idea to promote latex balloons as 100% biodegradable and environmentally friendly when talking to customers too.

Other creative ways to recycle and reuse the products we work with in the balloon industry have been discussed recently on Balloon HQ.

Mark Zettler of Balloons and Parties Magazine posted about a recycler in the New Jersey area who collects used latex, foils, and ribbon. What does he do with them? He has found an organization that employs the handicapped who create jewelry using balloons and ribbon to make pins, hair accessories, etc. Mark also wrote that he personally reuses ribbon as packing material as well as inflated latex balloons. Both of these items are biodegradable and replace styrofoam packing peanuts which are not. Additionally, did you know that most latex balloon packaging is recyclable?

Unfortunately, there are some who view the balloon industry as careless stewards of the environment and see it as their civic duty to ban balloons. We too are concerned about the issue of balloons ending up where they don’t belong (like on beaches). While latex balloons are biodegradable and typically “shatter” because of the extreme cold temperatures when they rise to an altitude where they break (the lack of atmospheric pressure allows the balloon to expand beyond its bursting point), foil balloons present a different challenge. IBA is a strong proponent for Smart Balloon Practices and strongly encourage all retailers to individually weight foil balloons. IBA also encourages industry members to be good stewards of our earth and recycle and reuse metallic balloons whenever possible.