CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Earth Day balloon sculpture at La Palmera Mall is a popular place to take pictures when hanging out at the mall.
Devary Brooner, the owner of Balloontique, a balloon sculpture business in Corpus Christi, is the creator of the sculpture and uses biodegradable balloons made of rubber latex instead of plastic latex. She said she uses biodegradable balloons because it’s important to help the environment stay clean.
“It’s important that we all do our part to help the environment and make sure that our Earth is nice and sustainable, clean and if we can do any little bit helps,” Brooner said.
She said the rubber latex balloons are 100 percent biodegradable and are made from a rubber tree, taking just as long to decompose as an oak leaf. She said she will be reusing the mylar balloons even after the display comes down because they can last months.
She also uses fake plastic plants in her displays at the mall that she reuses, but said she tries to use real flowers.
Brooner said she has been employed by the mall since December and will also do balloon sculptures for Cinco de Mayo, graduation season, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day.
La Palmera Mall said the balloon display is a good way to be sustainable. Amanda Sanchez, the general manager of the mall, said the mall wants to preserve what they can on Earth Day and everyday.
“It was important to work with number one, a local business, but two, somebody that also used materials that were recycle and biodegradable and we wanted to display something in honor of Earth Day,” Sanchez said.
The mall said they also have sustainable options like having an electric vehicle charging station and wireless lighting controls with occupancy sensors and timers to turn off the lights when they are not being used.
Some mall-goers like Murphy Chapman said he supports going green because he wants the Earth to stay clean and healthy for a long time.
“Plastic should be slowly taken away and anything that dissolves into the Earth is Earth-friendly in my opinion,” Chapman said.
