How New Orleans clean the trash on the left after Tuesday Gras

By Jack Brook, Associated Press

New Orleans (AP)-Hundreds of thousands of people descend into the streets of New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras with parades and party, leaving an avalanche of waste behind.

At dawn on Wednesday, a heterogeneous waste management team embarked on the uninvable mission to clean tens of thousands of pounds of detritus distributed in the historic French district of the city.

Continues through a sea of ​​waste

Leander Nunez, 54, led a solid truck on Bourbon Street just after 5 am, spraying water on the piles of waste so that they can be more easily swept away. It is IV Waste supervisor, the company contracted by the city to help clean many of its most popular streets during the 58 -day carnival season.

Peeling necklaces, thrown balconies and tanks, crunched under the wheels while the truck passed from Daiquiri bars, strip clubs and fried chicken joints.

Waves of waste that included cans, packaging and neon green plastic cups for “hand grenade” drinks ripptered the front of the truck as before the bow of an ocean liner.

The sun rising, people fell out of the bars and praised waste collectors. A drunk couple shouted and jumped on the sidewalks to escape from the waste waterfall while Nunez mumbled about the “typical madness” of Bourbon Street.

From the point of view of the graying veteran Nunez, cleaning was a lighter elevator than in previous years, probably due to the frightening effect of a truck attack on January 1 on Bourbon Street and storms that shortened Tuesday parades.

“The only thing I can judge below here is by the trash,” said Nunez. “There were people here for Gras Tuesday, but I don’t think the trash is the way it was.”

IV Waste has logistics to a science so that the French district is completely cleaned around 10 am every day, said owner and president Sidney Torres.

After wetting the garbage, the teams brandishing pressure slices vaporize the garbage on the sidewalks. The tractors carrying hair and nicknamed “toothbrushes” rub the asphalt, targeting the pearls. Bulldozers plow the heaps and throw them into trucks capable of supporting 40,000 pounds of waste at a time. The small teams on foot armed with brushes sweep everything in garbage cans.

Then comes the final touch: a Torres citrus spray calls “fresh lemon”.

“It is not only perfume like putting scent on a pig. It contains enzymes that kill bacteria, “said Torres. “You can have a clean street, but if you feel vomit and stingy beer and alcohol that is washed in the streets, it’s a foul odor and people remember it.”

Increased sustainability efforts

Over the past three years, a collection of organizations has intensified its efforts to improve the sustainability of Mardi Gras and reduce the more than 2 million tonnes of waste generated in the heart of the city carnaves.

“This is almost unfathomable number and looks like a difficult battle,” said Franziska Trautmann, co -founder of the glass recycling company, Glass Full. “But the team notices a difference.”

In partnership with the City and other groups, Glass Half Full has collected more than 33,000 pounds of glass of nearly two dozen bars as part of a “bar wars” and in recycling stations along the parade routes, said Trautmann.

Anna Nguyen, spokesperson for the city’s resilience and durability office, said the city is working with community groups to engage and encourage recycling, with groups offering rewards to all those who turn into bags of pearls, cans or bottles and an artist who built a mosaic.

This year, the city had assigned $ 50,000 to support the recycling of Tuesday fat for the first time and increased this five -time budget for the season of next year, said Nguyen. Planners and congress groups looking for cities to organize events increasingly prioritize sustainability, she added.

But that is also part of a cultural transition to greater sustainability among social clubs and fans of parades during Tuesday fat, according to Kevin Ferguson, vice-president of external affairs for New Orleans and society, a non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating city tourism: “What we build is more an individual project.”

A positive sign, he says, is that the “throws” – the trinkets that floating runners throw to spectators – evolve to present more articles than people want and are likely to keep.

“It no longer happens with pearls. No one takes this from the ground, “said Ferguson. “I think you see that the runners buy less and more other things.”

Associated Press journalist Stephen Smith contributed to this report.

Originally published: March 5, 2025 at 2:07 pm PST