NEW ORLEANS — You probably have a big bag of Mardi Gras beads in your home right now. Or maybe you've already recycled them to one of the non-profits.
But now one krewe hopes to lighten your load next Mardi Gras, while being more environmentally friendly.
It's a story we've been covering for years. This was from a story in 2014.
“Tulane toxicologist Dr. Howard Mielke and several others studied beads from China, and found lead and an array of toxic, and cancer causing metals and chemicals,” we reported 10 years ago.
And this story by reporter Leslie Spoon two years ago.
“Following bad flooding in New Orleans, the city implemented a cleaning project, and in 2018 pulled 46 tons of Mardi Gras beads from clogged catch basins. This was just along a five-block stretch of the downtown parade route. The reality of all the waste had some krewe members debating on sitting Carnival out,” Spoon reported in 2022.
The environmental group the Louisiana Bucket Brigade had even come up with throws locally made from Crowley rice, NOLA wood shutters, coffee burlap voodoo dolls, and ceramic doubloons, and beads that are hand crafted of hardened paper from Africa. Well now the Krewe of Freret has a new rule.
“No riders will be permitted to throw plastic beads off the floats. Now of course, look, that's almost impossible to enforce right, but this is such a huge part of who we've always been, I think, and the direction that we're going. I don't know why anyone would want to,” said Bobby Hjortsberg, Captain of the Krewe of Freret and one of the founders in 2010.
Its captain says it is what the more than 1,000 members asked for.
“We do a survey after every Carnival, and this year overwhelmingly, we had people just asking us, look is there, we've got to move more towards sustainability.”
Glass beads are always an option, but they are moving towards throws you want to take home and keep, and that won't slide down the drains.
Signature throws include: hand decorated masks, fanny packs, luggage tags, coloring books, highlighters, carryall bags and custom hats.
And some of throws could be limited edition like hats they made for Juvenile. They only made 150 of those, but the Freret hat they threw 5,000.
“It's almost impossible to make Mardi Gras "totally green" but to just say there's nothing we can do, I think is the wrong attitude to take. There are things we can do,” said Hjortsberg.
And while this is just one parade, the Krewe of Freret believes it is rolling in the right direction.
The singer-songwriter known as "Boyfriend," who rides in Freret, will be the krewe's sustainability advisor on the board of directors.
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