As those who braved the Quarter on Ash Wednesday noticed, the Quarter is amazingly clean after Mardi Gras. The amount of throws that pass through hands and end up on the ground is quite staggering. For locals skilled at catching, how to catch the things and then give away most of them so the beads and stuffed animals don’t weigh down our houses is a deeply admired talent. For tourists, I am sure they don’t know what to do with the majority of their catches, as all of them cannot fit into their luggage! I wish the city would have areas (like the police station on Royal) for people to leave their beads to be later recycled. I am also sure (as an ex-hotel manager) that if the ARC contacted the hotels they could get a truckful on Thursday morning. There is no doubt that my friends at UP/Unique Products
would set something up since they have found many inventive ways to reuse beads in their art. In any case, let’s try to make our Carnival a bit greener.

Group Collects Used Mardi Gras Beads For Recycling.