Each year before Lent, colorful strands of Mardi Gras beads glimmer in the streets of New Orleans — but at what cost? Of the estimated 25 million pounds of beads tossed during the celebration annually, only a tiny fraction are recycled. Most end up in landfills or storm drains, and in 2018, the city found 93,000 pounds of them clogging the latter over only five blocks.
While efforts have been made to facilitate recycling, including installing collection boxes to gather beads for future celebrations, usage of the strands doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. So a team of researchers at Louisiana State University developed a solution: biodegradable Mardi Gras beads that can replace the plastic versions, which are often laden with toxic materials.
Not only do these strands, called “PlantMe Beads,” act as alternatives for the necklaces, but they give a little something extra back to the environment as well. The researchers insert a seed in each bead, so that once the outer shells break down, the seeds are “planted” in the soil.
“These sounds you hear are seeds inside of the beads, so this will allow plants and flowers to essentially come out of these Mardi Gras beads,” Alexis Strain, an LSU graduate student, told KPLC as she held up a strand and jangled it.
So how were the beads made? In a project launched by biological sciences professor Naohiro Kato and supported by his graduate students, the team set out to generate an eco-friendly bead material. Initially, they grew microscopic algae in a large tank on LSU’s campus, then dried it and processed it into powder. The powder was then sent to the LSU alum-led Noble Plastics in Louisiana, where it was combined with a bio-based compostable plastic, shaped into beads, and strung onto hemp threads.
This early iteration of the strands made its public debut in 2022, when 500 of the necklaces were thrown off of two floats during Mardi Gras festivities. Kato and his team received an outpouring of support for their efforts — including from one of the krewes who tossed the beads.
“Like any new technology, this biobead represents the future,” Greg Rhoades, co-founder of the Krewe of Feret, said in a news release at the time. “It’s important we help shape the perception that we can do better when it comes to waste and environmental impact, especially surrounding Mardi Gras.” After the festivities, the beads were projected to decompose in soil within two years.
But by August 2024, Kato and his students had a lightbulb moment: Why not 3D-print the beads? With Strain now at the helm, the team went on to create two new prototypes — one made from bacteria and the other from corn, with the former allowing the beads to break down within a mere three months.
If you’re visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras and hoping to get your hands on these game-changing strands, you may be in luck. The researchers will be distributing the biodegradable beads to select influencers in this year’s festivities, with plans to “gauge their reactions and gather feedback,” Kato told Nice News over email.
The team is also currently investigating how to create the beads on a variety of different printers, aiming to one day make the 3D print file open source, which will allow “anyone with access to a 3D printer to create their own beads,” Kato said. They envision that instead of Mardi Gras beads being sourced from countries like China, this new method will encourage local production.
“Additionally, we plan to mass-produce the beads so that krewes can purchase them at a competitive price comparable to conventional petroleum-based beads,” Kato said, noting that he hopes the 3D-printed beads will “inspire paradegoers to think about the sustainability of Mardi Gras.”
In addition to all the progress his team has made, Kato has another idea for an alternative to plastic beads — one that involves a cultural shift around Mardi Gras. “Historically, Mardi Gras beads were made out of glass, handed out and people would keep them because they were very precious and beautiful,” he mused in the 2022 release, adding: “Maybe we need to produce more precious items each year that are more memorable and that aren’t thrown away.”
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