LAFAYETTE, La — Mardi Gras is officially over, but the cleanup is just beginning.
At the Blackham Coliseum, the third annual Krewe de Coulee post-Mardi Gras pickup event is helping clean up the city.
Mardi Gras is a culturally significant event in Louisiana, but it can also leave a big mess, with beads and other plastic throws scattered in the streets and waterways.
The Krewe de Coulee had many litter revelers armed with bags and litter sticks.
"This is the one time a year that not only is littering acceptable, it’s encouraged," Brandt Snook said.
Snook has returned for another year of Mardi Gras cleanup. Although he says it’s fun to let the good times roll, it’s also cleanup time.
"Anything we can do to try to limit that and give back while making things a little better, but still allowing people—especially young children who may not be aware of the waste and litter—to enjoy it, while also being able to instruct or teach them that, hey, this isn’t something you can always do, but you can contribute by doing something like this," he said.
Not only will cleaning up the streets help the environment, but our beloved waters will also thank us.
"When it rains or the wind blows, it will blow it into the sewer system, the drainage system, and get to the river. If it gets to the river and it's not trapped, then it will end up in the Gulf. That’s certainly a very bad thing—the plastics, the microplastics that are in the water as we speak," said Brett Mellington, a volunteer.
Organizers say they picked up more than a thousand pounds of trash left behind last year.
KATC asked one volunteer about some of the items they picked up.
"A bunch of beads and straws, and some zip ties," he said.
Xzayvion Gaye, a UL student who is passionate about the environment, is happy to spend his afternoon picking up Mardi Gras debris.
"We throw beads down, and it goes to the water. That water somehow makes its way back to us, whether through drinking water or aquatic life that we might have eaten. It just makes its way back and could come back worse," said Gaye.
Click here to find out how you can donate all your Mardi Gras beads.
