UK Researchers Invent ‘Bioloon’ as Nature-Friendly Alternative

What would a party be without balloons? For years, balloons have been a symbol of birthday celebrations, good times, happiness, and joy. Colorful and cheerful, they can raise any mood. 

However, there is a downside to balloons. These decorations take years to biodegrade, can be harmful to wildlife, and leave behind unwanted chemicals, according to the BBC. Luckily, scientists at Imperial College London have created what they call the “Bioloon,” a balloon that can biodegrade in less than a year.

The Party Planner and the Scientist
The push for a more environmentally friendly balloon came from an unexpected source — a party planner named Charlotte Melia, who had created balloon arches for clients and was concerned about their environmental impact. 

“We’d just hosted a large event and I was surrounded by thousands of popped balloons,” Melia told the BBC. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I wanted to take action.” So, she helped fund the project that would eventually become the Bioloon. 

Creating a More Sustainable Balloon
Balloons, despite their joyful association with celebrations, are actually quite damaging to the environment. According to a study in the journal Scientific Reports, balloon fragments posed the greatest mortality risk to seabirds among the types of marine debris that were examined. A seabird that ingests a balloon fragment is 32 times more likely to die than one that has ingested hard plastic. 

In addition, traditional balloons undergo a process called sulfur vulcanization, which involves additives that prevent biodegradation and can leach toxic chemicals into the environment, Euronews reports. Even balloons marketed as biodegradable may not fully break down, despite what their packaging claims. 

How the Bioloon Works
Balloons have been made from much the same basic material since they were invented in 1824. Natural latex is extracted from the sap of the rubber tree and turned into rubber using sulfur vulcanization, described above. 

The Bioloon, on the other hand, avoids the additives that are used in traditional balloons. Instead, its natural latex is mixed with another biodegradable polymer. According to its creators, this allows the balloon to break down regardless of where it lands. Researchers tested it in soil, seawater, and deionized water, and it degraded in all three conditions. They estimate that it will biodegrade within about nine months. 

Though it will take a few years before the Bioloon reaches the market, the hope is that the technology used to make it could then be adapted to make other common latex and rubber-based products, such as surgical gloves and latex clothing. 

Groundbreaking inventions can sometimes begin with ordinary people who want to create positive change. The Bioloon is the result of an odd couple pairing — a party planner who wanted a cleaner world and scientists looking to make latex and rubber more environmentally friendly. Sometimes, this is what it takes to make a better world.