Baton Rouge man, LSU engineers working to create biodegradable Mardi Gras beads

http://www.wdsu.com/article/baton-rouge-man-lsu-engineers-working-to-create-biodegradable-mardi-gras-beads/8956439

NEW ORLEANS — A Baton Rouge man is working with LSU to create Mardi Gras beads that won’t harm the environment if they are left behind after a parade. In the Big Easy, it's a normal to see beads hanging in trees, wrapped around tree trunks, on the streets and in gutters after parades.

”About 98.5 percent of those beads end up in the landfill. That's an awful lot of plastic going in the trash each year. Some people try to recycle but for the most part, they wind up in the trash. And also, these beads are testing 1 percent lead content from EPA tests,” said Marcu Ciko of 3-D Beads.

“It'll be made out of a renewable plant matter instead of a petroleum-based plastic that beads are made out of currently,” said Ciko.

Ciko and LSU engineers are working together to create beads made from a biodegradable material to replace the traditional ones. Replacing the beads used now would seem like a no-brainer, but Ciko said getting to production and convincing krewes is not easy.

While they wait for the machinery to create a prototype to put out for testing, Ciko spends time recycling regular plastic beads. He turns them into art and even clothing, like his famous New Orleans Saints jersey. Ciko hopes to get things moving soon on the biodegradable bead project and to have a test batch on floats as early as next Carnival season.