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The current cost of 50 cents per strand of beads is a major improvement over earlier iterations and makes these biodegradable beads far more competitive with traditional Mardi Gras beads. And the team believes the costs can go even lower. Facilitating do-it-yourself printing Check out our biodegradable mardi gras beads selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our party & gifting shops. We sell Renewable and Recycled Mardi Gras Throws. Some products replicate NOLA Architecture. We strive to bring affordable, sustainable throws to the market. “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.” These beads can hold seeds for things like plants and flowers. While plastic beads may take ions to disintegrate, these new beads that have been created will biodegrade in about three months under the solid, and flowers will grow from them as they are filled with seeds. The biodegradable Mardi Gras beads and doubloons are made from microalgae biomass. Paige Jarreau/LSU Kato’s team started exploring growing microalgae for beads that would biodegrade. The PlantMe beads. Photo courtesy of LSU Media Relations . These efforts started in Dr. Naohiro Kato’s lab, where the professor began the work of producing Mardi Gras beads from microscopic algae in 2021. His goal was to get the beads to decompose in months instead of decades, but they were still very expensive to make and scale. To combat the leftover Mardi Gras litter, LSU's Department of Biological Science found a solution: 3D-printed biodegradable beads with plant and flower seeds inside. BATON ROUGE - In an initiative to make Mardi Gras more sustainable, LSU has created 3-D printed biodegradable Mardi Gras beads. The beads contain seeds people can take home to plant, Inside LSU’s Life Sciences Building, a unique kind of Mardi Gras throw is being created. These eco-friendly beads are made using a 3D printer, with seeds embedded inside them, offering a BATON ROUGE – Mardi Gras just got a little greener. An LSU researcher and his team of graduate students have designed biodegradable Mardi Gras beads that can be produced using 3D printers and contain embedded seeds for planting. Jerome and Dian Milton's biodegradable Mardi Gras beads lay on a table at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. The beads and paint are biodegradable and compostable. Each 32-inch strand of Naohiro Kato's biodegradable Mardi Greas season beads spells out “MADE WITH ALGAE LSU” over and over again. In Mobile, the Mardi Gras litter battle involves – among other things – keeping beads from riddling and rubbishing the city’s One Mile Creek and various other waterways that lead out into Producing the biodegradable Mardi Gras beads that parade goers will catch in New Orleans this month is labor intensive and costly compared to the ubiquitous mass-produced plastic Mardi Gras beads. The biodegradable beads are made from microalgae that Kato and his students grow in a large, 18-foot tank on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge. Microscopic algae, or microalgae, can be used to make nutraceuticals and biodegradable Mardi Gras beads. Photo Credit: Alison Satake, LSU. Mardi Gras may be fun, but it generates thousands of tons of trash every year. Thankfully, these biodegradable beads might make the party a little greener. Eco-Friendly Floats and Biodegradable Beads. The rise of eco-friendly practices during Mardi Gras is paving the way for a greener celebration. Initiatives such as ArcGNO's bead recycling program help minimize waste by collecting unwanted beads, cleaning them, and reselling them for reuse. LSU Professor Naohiro Kato has been developing biodegradable beads for Mardi Gras parades since 2021, though the idea first came to him in 2013. These innovative beads are made from microscopic algae, which is processed into a powder and used to create eco-friendly products. LSU Biological Sciences professor Naohiro Kato is creating biodegradable Mardi Gras beads entirely out of large amounts of microscopic algae, or microalgae, that can disintegrate over time in soil
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