In Virginia, the most problematic and abundant types of debris are: cigarette butts; food and beverage containers; plastic bags; fishing gear (commercial and recreational) and balloons. 

Balloons often end up in the ocean and can be mistaken for food by sea turtles and dolphins; seabirds and other wildlife also often become entangled in balloon strings. All these effects can lead to mortalities. 

The Virginia CZM Program focuses on the use of Community-based Social Marketing to reduce consumer debris, including design and implementation of campaigns to target behaviors that will reduce balloon litter and encourage the use of alternatives to balloon releases -www.preventballoonlitter.org and JoyfulSendoff.org.  

As the lead for MARCO's Marine Debris Work Group, the Virginia CZM Program worked with its regional partners to scale-up the use of CBSM toward balloon release reduction to include the other four Mid-Atlantic States and D.C.

The Mid-A Prevent Balloon Litter campaign, funded through a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, was piloted through aquariums in 2021, and focuses on a one-to-many, social normative strategy emphasizing the use of balloon release alternatives during celebratory, memorial and other events to honor individuals and groups.

Acknowledging that policies and laws are often effective ways to change behavior and reduce the sources of marine debris, the program encourages its statewide partners to share data with decision makers so they can craft evidence-based actions.  A fact sheet compiling the results of research on balloon litter in Virginia, conveyed to legislators, was considered instrumental in the Virginia General Assembly’s decision to ban the intentional release of balloons in Virginia.

To mitigate the problem of balloon debris and protect wildlife, a bill was passed that as of July 1, 2021, it is illegal to intentionally release balloons outside that take longer than five minutes to degrade after contact with air or water.