Mardi Gras reveler Mike Turpin, whose night still isn’t over, watches as a front loader collects beads and other debris left behind by revelers on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 2011. Shiny plastic beads are ubiquitous during the revelries, but not all of them make it into the trash: In 2018, the city pulled 93,000 pounds of beads out of the sewer system.
Green groups are urging revelers to recycle, reuse, and reconnect with the pre-plastic soul of a great celebration.
In 2011, Holly Groh and her family stood on a street corner in New Orleans, giddy with anticipation as the Mardi Gras parade approached. Her husband’s family had congregated at that spot every year for decades. Her children were always entranced by the raucous, exuberant performances—and also by the shiny beads and other “throws,” the trinkets tossed by the parading “krewes.”