Our Balloon Eco Policy

At Party Pieces, we want to minimise our impact on the environment, which means enjoying balloons responsibly.

Balloons can fill a room with magical decor, but what you are seeing is mostly air. Once popped, thousands of balloons will not even fill 1 bin bag and they are biodegradable. This is less waste than 1 cardboard sign or banner. 

Here's a bit more about how balloons are made and what we're doing to reduce their environmental impact. Let’s look after our planet together and celebrate responsibly.

About our Balloon Practices

1. Latex Balloons

Many people mistakenly believe that latex is a type of plastic but actually, it’s a different material altogether! Latex balloons are made from latex rubber which is a 100% natural product that comes from a ‘rubber tree’ also known as, ‘Hevea brasiliensis’.

The rubber tree is tapped for its white liquid sap, known as ‘latex’, which is then harvested into the bouncy rubber latex material that we all know and love. Since this process is gentle and does not damage the growth of the rubber tree, there is no risk of deforestation involved in this process. A rubber tree can be tapped for up to 30 years before it naturally reaches the end of its rubber production cycle.

Whilst there is such a thing as synthetic latex, it isn’t used in the production of balloons but rather in some paints and glues. Natural latex is the type of latex used in balloons. Latex will biodegrade at different rates subject to where it is, and the conditions that it is in, but latex balloons are biodegradable and compostable.

We are dedicated to being considerate of our planet which is why we encourage you to recycle our balloons, and never release or let them fly away outdoors.

2. Helium 

Party Pieces uses Balloon gas for all pre-inflated balloons. Balloon gas is simply a by-product from bottling helium and other industrial appliances that would have otherwise been wasted. Instead of losing the gas to atmosphere, it is captured and sold as balloon gas instead of helium due to it's high level of impurity.

We use recycled balloon gas in our pre-inflated balloons.

3. Foil Balloons

We encourage extending the life of your foil-balloons with creative after-use ideas. If you have any exciting ways to reuse foil balloons, we'd love to hear from you.

We are exploring recycling programs that we can encourage our customers to return balloons to. 

4. Terracycle Zero Waste Box

We have introduced a Terracyle Zero Waste Box into our office and warehouse to help recycle waste and reduce landfill. TerraCycle is an innovative recycling company and the world's leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle waste.

If you are feeling green and want to improve your footprint, send back your latex and foil balloons after your celebration and we will recycle them for you. Address it to

Recycled Balloons, Child Court Farm, Ashampstead Common, Reading, RG8 8QT

Once we have sent a full box back to Terracyle the balloons are shredded and melted into plastic pellets that can be remolded into new products such as gardening equipment, outdoor and indoor furniture. All shipments are cardbon-neutral meaning the carbon emissions released during transport will be offset.