New Orleans is facing a unique kind of Mardi Gras hangover – not from too many daiquiris, but from a mountain of trash. In recent years, the city’s spirited, weeks-long Carnival celebration has become an alarming source of waste, generating an average of 1,123 tons annually over the past decade, according to the Sanitation Department.
“It’s an environmental catastrophe,” states Brett Davis, who leads Grounds Krewe, a nonprofit dedicated to making Carnival more sustainable.
The region is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, enduring frequent hurricanes and coastal erosion. Yet, during the joyous parading, culminating on Fat Tuesday, these pressing environmental concerns often take a backseat. Float riders enthusiastically toss plastic beads, cups, doubloons, and foam footballs into eager crowds. What seems like a treasure in the moment quickly becomes street litter, or hangs from oak trees like garish Spanish moss, eventually destined for landfills.
Now, a powerful alliance of nonprofit organizations, city officials, and scientists is stepping up to address this issue. Their mission: to green up the party. They are championing various initiatives, from the simple act of reusing beads to a broader cultural shift aimed at making environmental consciousness central to Carnival.
The problem extends beyond overflowing landfills. A 2013 study revealed that over 60 percent of Mardi Gras beads contained dangerous levels of lead. Furthermore, in 2018, authorities discovered a staggering 46 tons of beads clogging crucial catch basins, vital for draining floodwaters.
“The city once measured Mardi Gras’s success by the amount of trash collected,” explained Kevin Ferguson, chief of staff for the New Orleans mayor. “But it’s clear we need to change that metric.”
Mardi Gras wasn’t always this prodigal. Historically, dating back to the 1920s, the social clubs (known as krewes) that organized the balls and parades would throw glass beads from floats, but “not in the enormous quantities we see today,” notes Lydia Blackmore, a curator at the Historic New Orleans Collection.
However, global trade dynamics shifted in the 1970s, making cheap, mass-produced items from China readily available in the United States. Soon, krewes began packaging and selling these novelties in ever-larger “throw packages” to their members.
With city regulations prohibiting corporate sponsors or items featuring logos during Carnival, these sales became a critical funding source for the modern Mardi Gras spectacle, financing elaborate fog machines, out-of-town bands, and increasingly grand floats. Today, trinkets literally rain down across the city, leading to a widespread sense of “bead fatigue.”
“When I was a kid, we cherished every throw,” Mr. Davis recalled. “There was intense excitement about what you’d catch. Now, it’s just a carpet, a river of waste.”
Mr. Davis launched his own Mardi Gras cleanup efforts in 2018. He started by collecting, sorting, and repackaging beads, collaborating with a local organization supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. By the 2023 season, his group, Grounds Krewe, became part of a larger coalition called Recycle Dat, spearheaded by the city’s tourism association and the mayor’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability.
For the 2025 Carnival season, this coalition successfully gathered an impressive 74,500 pounds of bottles, cans, plastics, and parade throws, a significant jump from 8,130 pounds just two years prior.
“This is truly ethical recycling,” affirmed Don Bates, owner of Osprey Initiative, another key member of the coalition. “Every item we sort has a clear, identified final destination.”
Despite this progress, Mr. Davis eventually realized that merely reusing beads was “just recirculating toxic, plastic junk no one wants.” He has since shifted his focus to waste prevention, meticulously curating a catalog of sustainable throws.
To date, he has generated over $1 million in sales of these festive yet eco-friendly items, which include jambalaya mix, native flower starter kits, and even plant-based glitter. He has also mobilized a dedicated team of volunteers, from elementary school students to retirees, to assist with packaging these sustainable alternatives.
While Mr. Davis acknowledges he can’t “compete with the cheapest things on the planet” on price alone, he hopes that the inherent scarcity of these unique items will increase their value and raise environmental awareness. After all, the most coveted throws at Mardi Gras are already the rarest: the iconic hand-decorated coconuts from the Zulu parade and the dazzling, bedazzled high-heeled shoes from Muses.
For Mardi Gras to achieve true sustainability, however, the ubiquitous standard beads must evolve. Two Louisiana State University scientists are diligently working to tackle this challenge.
Dr. Naohiro Kato, a plant molecular biologist, began experimenting with algae-based beads after learning about the overwhelming plastic necklace problem. He faced initial challenges with affordability until he discovered that 3-D printers could craft beads from plant-derived plastics, a greener alternative to fossil fuels. His innovative “PlantMe” beads now contain okra seeds; when planted in soil, they can break down in approximately two to three years. (Conveniently, okra is a common ingredient in gumbo.) While his first prototypes cost $50 per necklace, he can now produce them for less than 50 cents each.
Grounds Krewe has also partnered with Dr. Qinglin Wu, an engineer at the L.S.U. School of Renewable Natural Resources, to develop a bead made from bagasse, the fibrous byproduct of sugar cane processing. This research is partly supported by Rex, one of the oldest krewes, known for being among the first to introduce trinkets. Another group, the Krewe of Freret, has committed to entirely phasing out conventional beads and, for the first time this year, enthusiastically distributed Dr. Kato’s PlantMe beads.
These comprehensive efforts to make Mardi Gras sustainable are creating a ripple effect far beyond the Carnival season. Anna Nguyen from the mayor’s sustainability office notes that an increasing number of local festivals have adopted recycling and composting practices.
As for the future of plantable beads, Dr. Kato envisions a shift in the relationship between paradegoers and throws. “To have beautiful flowers,” he muses, people will need to actively nurture their bead seedlings. “You have to take care of what you receive.”