That statement by the chairman of the Balloon Association doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Helium is an inert gas. Recycled helium is just as good as new helium. We extracted it from natural gas, and we can just as well extract it from "balloon air."

It's more a question of purity. If the gas pumped into balloons is actually only 99% helium and 1% miscellaneous gasses then that is not a problem. In many other applications that would make the gas unusable.

Yes but it wasn't pure when we first pumped it out of the ground, either. I'd bet natural gas has a lower percentage helium than "balloon air." We are able to purify helium.

I expect the difference is that when extracting helium from natural gas, the volumes are huge and therefore the purification process is economically feasible.

Trying to do the same for small amounts of helium collected here and there is possible but not economically feasible. It makes more sense to use it as balloon gas.

It costs energy to do that, which is reflected in the lower price of the impure balloon air, no?

It also costs energy to extract helium from natural gas. If running out of helium is our concern, then the balloon air is a source of helium we can exploit just as well as natural gas. It's not like we have helium wells pulling pure helium out of the ground.

Indeed, as a diver we need medical grade, or better, helium. The helium you get for balloons is industrial waste, it is unusable for anything else.