Marigny Green News

The official Mardi Gras season in New Orleans began on January 6 (Twelfth Night) and will have parades in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras Day, March 4, 2025. The krewes of these parades throw approximately twenty-five million pounds of plastic beads to the spectators. These plastic Mardi Gras beads are toxic  have become solid waste, clogging storms drains, littering the streets and polluting local rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.

A New Orleans grassroots organization founded in 2011 by residents called Verdi Gras’ goal is to reduce Mardi Gras’ waste pollution(www.verdigras.org). “Their mission  is an organization dedicated to preserving Louisiana culture through the conservation of our local resources and strive for a greener and cleaner Mardi Gras”

Some parades Krewes started looking for more creative options for Mardi Gras throws. In 2018, Brett Davis formed the non-profit Ground Krewe a 501c (3) mission is “Driven to provide throws that are the most sustainable, non-toxic and fairly made possible without commercial branding and advertising.” Grounds Krewe has a catalog  (https://www.groundskrewe.org/throw-catalo) of sustainable throws and some examples are small bags of red bean, jambalaya mix, recycle pencils, toothbrush sets and recycled plastic cups.

Hopefully, this year you will be catching non-toxic, biodegradable throws. As they say, “they still glitter, cause less litter and contain non flame retardants.”

Side Note: If you do catch plastic Mardi Gras beads, do not allow children or adults to put them in their mouths, and always wash hands after touching. Consider bringing baby wipes to parades to wipe children's hands after catching and playing with beads and before eating according to https://www.ecocenter.org/mardi-gras-beads-toxic-legacyide