BK Mardi Gras Beads Web Video
Hundreds of thousands of people visit New Orleans each year for Carnival season. Others are looking for more sustainable ways to dispose of beads.
Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of the year during Carnival season, and each year hundreds of thousands of people descend on the Big Easy to line the streets and catch beads thrown from floats.
Michael Sampey has been coming to New Orleans to see many of the floats for more than 20 years. People who want to get home light don’t store all their catch.
“It’s fun to catch, it’s fun to catch with friends and family, and kids love things that flash,” Sampey said. “At first it took him 26 years, but he took them back to Chicago and distributed them, and over the years he learned to recycle them.”
Anna Nguyen, director of public engagement for Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness in New Orleans, said there is a growing movement to recycle beads and throws from parades. She said the city is in its second year of bead recycling and is installing water receptacles along the busiest parade route.
Crowds of people reach for beads as the float rolls through the streets of New Orleans. (Fox News)
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“Before the city got involved, it was a much smaller operation, about 10 blocks from Napoleon to Louisiana, and now we’re able to reach over 50 city blocks,” Nguyen said.
Between Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, the city collected 1,462 pounds of Mardi Gras supplies. Nguyen said they plan to recycle more this year than ever before.
Mardi Gras beads hang from the arc. (Fox News)
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“We actually deliver clean, unbreakable beads and throws to organizations that provide jobs for people with intellectual disabilities,” Nguyen said.
Lafourche Arc is one organization that helps repackage and resell beads. Kyle Soigner, the organization’s vocational director, said work has already begun to resell the beads to crews for next year as soon as Mardi Gras ends.
Lafourche Arc participants sorting beads at a table (Fox News)
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“We package them, go through them and sort them by size, 24 inches, 32 inches. All the work of assembling the beads is done together with the participants we support. Money earned from sales. is basically given back to them,” Soigner said.
The Lafourche Arc uses a trailer to collect beads along the parade route in Thibodaux. Last year, the organization collected 20,000 pounds of his Mardi Gras beads.
