This Carnival Season, the New Orleans Office of Resilience & Sustainability is again partnering with New Orleans & Company, and Grounds Krewe, with support from sponsors like Every Can Counts, Entergy New Orleans, and Coca-Cola, as well as other partners, on the Recycle Dat! initiative, promoting a more sustainable carnival season. This year, members of the public can expect new and expanded programming as Recycle Dat! continues to grow.
New Programming in 3rd Year of Recycle Dat!
Recycle World: Sponsored by Coca-Cola and operated by Osprey Initiative, Recycle World is a first-of-its-kind space along the parade route, providing real-time collection and sorting of plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Recycle World will highlight the packaging circularity process and the impact of recycling while contributing to a greener Mardi Gras and more sustainable celebration. The interactive station will be located at the Premium Parking lot on the corner of Louisiana and St. Charles Avenue and will be open the two Saturdays and Sundays before Mardi Gras during the route recycling hours of ~10am 鈥� 7pm.
Aluminum Can Mosaic: A Masterpiece of Sustainability: Revelers and parade goers who visit Recycle World will also be able to contribute their used aluminum beverage cans to the creation of a can mosaic supported by Every Can Counts. Designed by a local artist, the mosaic will use more than 2,400 used beverage cans to reveal a Mardi-Gras themed image.
Bar Wars: New Orleans bars battle to recycle the most glass with Glass Half Full from February 1st through Mardi Gras Day, diverting waste from landfills while fueling vital coastal restoration projects. By turning glass waste into sustainable sand, Bar Wars fuels the fight to restore the coast with bold climate action and inspiring climate art projects thanks to a partnership with Climate Culture, Pursuit of Happiness Farms, and Creole Contemporary.
Recycling Rewards: Parade goers who turn in full bags of cans, bottles or throws at recycling stations during the route recycling program are eligible to win prizes as part of a sweepstakes from local sponsors.
Last year, the coalition recycled along the parade route 4,302 lbs of aluminum beverage cans, approximately 145,408 cans;聽 4,288 lbs of glass; 12,697 lbs of beads and throws, which includes 5,100 lbs collected at the Morial Convention Center in partnership with Realcycle and 2,144 lbs collected through the Krewe of Reuse program by Downtown Development District, French Quarter Management District, VCPORA, and Glass Half Full. In addition, the recycling hub run by Osprey Initiative collected plastic bottles for the first time of Recycle Dat! as a pilot run. They collected 236 lbs of plastic bottles, or approximately 6,139 bottles.
During the 2023 Carnival Season, the city recycled 1,475 pounds of aluminum, 1,500 pounds of glass and 11,535 pounds of Mardi Gras beads and throws with the help of the Recycle Dat! partners.聽As the impact of the program expands, leaders of the initiative continue to see growing demand from the community to expand the work of Recycle Dat!
鈥淚t鈥檚 inspiring to see this program go from a handful of volunteers, grocery carts and some rented cargo trailers stashed along the parade route to what is today,鈥� said Brett Davis, founding director of Grounds Krewe, the primary organizer and fiscal sponsor of Recycle Dat!. 鈥淣ow we have a multi-program initiative that is in partnership with the city, spanning multiple weeks from Uptown to Downtown to Mid City to the Bywater, made possible in part by Fortune 500 sponsors and a growing roster of grass-roots groups and businesses committed to creating a more sustainable Mardi Gras. This is truly a community-wide effort!鈥�
鈥淣ew Orleans continues to lead by example in making our iconic traditions more sustainable, and Recycle Dat! is proof of that progress,鈥� said Greg Nichols, Director of the City鈥檚 Office of Resilience and Sustainability. 鈥淏y expanding this initiative year over year, we are reducing waste, supporting local nonprofits, and demonstrating that a greener Mardi Gras is possible. The City is proud to be a partner in this effort, working alongside our community to ensure that our celebrations reflect our shared commitment to sustainability.鈥�