Bright strands of vibrant green, purple, and gold beads are a core tradition of New Orleans’ Carnival, the weeks-long festive season that concludes with Mardi Gras on Tuesday, Feb. 17. But the plastic necklaces thrown from parade floats inflict clear environmental damage. Around 25 million pounds of used Mardi Gras beads are discarded every single year. Several years ago, in 2018, 46 tons of these beads clogged New Orleans’ storm drains after major flooding.

This year, a team of researchers at Louisiana State University has developed a more sustainable alternative to this beloved festival staple: 3D-printed, biodegradable beads. More than 3,000 of these new beads were tossed to crowds during this year’s Carnival season.

Naohiro Kato, a researcher and professor in the university’s department of biological sciences, first began exploring sustainable alternatives to traditional parade throws roughly 10 years ago. He quickly found that finding a viable replacement was far harder than it initially appeared. “It’s very challenging to replace these inexpensive plastic materials with more sustainable options,” he says.

Originally, Kato and his team started making beads from a bioplastic sourced from microalgae. In 2022, they supplied 100 beads to two Carnival krewes, the social clubs that organize parades and events for the festival. However, they quickly realized that scaling up production to supply beads for all 60+ groups that join Carnival each year would be far too costly: each finished necklace would cost $10 to $15 to produce. This is a major expense, since krewes cannot accept sponsorships and rely on member support and fundraising to operate. “Mass production is impossible,” he says.

Shortly after that initial attempt, one of Kato’s students began experimenting with 3D printing, and created a new bead version using polylactic acid, or PLA. The biodegradable beads, which the team named PlantMe beads, break down naturally and contain okra seeds, a staple crop in Southern cuisine. While PLA decomposes slowly on its own, plants help the material biodegrade five to seven times faster once it is in soil, Kato explains.

The research team has made the 3D printing file open access, and envisions that moving forward, local libraries and schools with 3D printers can help produce more beads for parades. “We can train students to print the beads, learn how they are made, and then understand how they degrade,” he says. “It becomes a community project, and people no longer need to buy beads. They can produce them themselves whenever they need more.”

This bead project is just one of many efforts to make the festival more sustainable. After collecting 10,000 lb. of used beads last year, the French Quarter Management District is setting up new recycling centers in 16 hotels to cut down on waste. A coalition called Recycle Dat, organized by the city’s tourism association and the mayor’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, has been expanding its work to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. In 2025, the group collected 74,500 lb. of bottles, cans, plastic, and parade throws, up from just 8,130 lb. only two years earlier.

Krewes themselves are also seeking ways to cut down on waste during the weeks-long celebrations. Grounds Krewe, a nonprofit working to reduce Carnival waste, has started creating sustainable alternative items for groups to toss to crowds, including packages of goods like jambalaya mix, coffee, and soap bars.

A century ago, krewes used to throw glass beads from parade floats, items that were treasured and kept rather than thrown away. Kato hopes his project will encourage more social clubs to rethink what they throw to crowds. “The true solution for a sustainable Mardi Gras is not biodegradation, but a shift in people’s mindset,” he says. “Many krewe members are already aware that it’s time to change.”