I am eleven years old and I have been campaigning for four years to make sure that there will not be a balloon release at the Sydney Olympic Games. A suggestion that there be any sort of balloon release at the Olympic Games is a potential environmental disaster, as bad as the oil spill in Sydney Harbour, only done on purpose. It's hardly likely that people are just going to leave the balloons lying around for someone to clan up afterwards. A gust of wind could blow the balloons away and into nearby waterways or into fishing grounds. This is most likely to happen.
Balloons do float in the air and in water.
Just because they are not filled with helium doesn't mean they won't be blown away in the wind. It's not the helium that's the litter, it's the balloons. It's not the helium that kills animals, it's the balloons. Without the helium, the balloons will never rise to anywhere near five miles, but they'll still blow out to sea. Ric Birch said that there would be no balloon release.