McDonalds balloons from Happy Meals are washing up hundreds of miles away

Shocking images have captured how balloons from McDonald’s Happy Meals are polluting the seas around Britain – washing up hundreds of miles from where they were bought.

Campaigners the Blue Planet Society compiled images of the balloons washed up on beaches – in an effort to pressure the fast food giant into ditching the toys.

Blue Planet Society claims that hundreds of the balloons are washing up – with balloons bought in Britain having washed up in Belgium and Germany.

Founder John Hurston, 52, says, ‘The Happy Meal balloon promotion is the gateway for McDonald’s to hooking kids into fast-food and for some reason they seem abnormally attached to the idea.

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‘Balloons are going from Manchester and Liverpool and being swept across to the beaches of Belgium, Holland and Germany.

‘We’ve collected 300 images in about a year, nearly one a day. In the marine environment, balloons are unlike any other form of human waste – they mimic marine food.

‘If they go into the atmosphere they blow up, become shredded and end up falling down in fragments. They end up in the stomachs of seabirds, turtles, whales and dolphins.

‘We get these balloons sent to us from all over Europe, from Shetland and Orkney.The nearest McDonald’s is Elgin, east of Inverness.

‘They have been found in Wadden Sea, a UNESCO world heritage site, across the North Sea.

John has written to the British CEO of McDonald’s, Steve Easterbrook, to raise his concerns.

An activist from the Danish island of Fanoe, on the west coast, wrote: ‘On our beach we can easily find 10- 15 happy meal balloons every day.’

A spokesman for McDonald’s said: “Helium balloons are no longer in use in the majority of our coastal restaurants.

‘We have taken a number of steps to encourage customers to dispose of litter responsibly, and are currently in the process of replacing all helium balloons with stick balloons in coastal restaurants.

‘Our priority remains to provide our customers with the correct messaging on waste disposal and ensure we play our part in keeping the environment litter free.’