After the streets are cleaned from Mardi Gras 26, Loyola alum Kevin Fitzwilliam looks to a more green future
Mardi Gras is a celebration. A time of joy, overwhelm, grief, and… trash. A recent article by NOLA.com stated that just last year, over 1100 tons of trash was sent to landfills after the twelve day parade period. That’s over 2.4 million pounds.
This year was no different. However, it doesn’t have to be like this, and many riders and volunteers celebrate Mardi Gras and sustainability hand in hand.
Loyola ‘03 alum Kevin Fitzwilliam has spent much of his life working towards a more sustainable Mardi Gras.
“I’m from New Orleans. So as far as Mardi Gras goes, I mean, I’ve been going to Mardi Gras my whole life”, he said. “It was 25 years ago that I rode in Thoth… I rode and threw only recycled or reused beads, and plush items and stuff like that.”
At Loyola, Fitzwilliam found himself reading about the environment often, forming his conservation mindset.
Stewardship combined with education, Fitzwiliam noted, is “all a part of the gumbo pot of caring about the environment.”
Fitzwilliam noted that he “always cared about the environment” and he studied the environment in college. Fitzwilliam has been involved in Mardi Gras sustainability for about 15 years.
Even before his time at Loyola, Fitzwilliam recalls, “going to mardi gras parades being like, what the hell is going on here?”
This observation drove him to get involved.
In 2017, Fitzwilliam founded Atlas Beads, an organization that sells bracelets, necklaces, coin purses, earrings, and Christmas ornaments all made with recycled magazine paper by women in Uganda.
“My role in this is literally just to sell the women’s products that they’re making, so they have an audience here in New Orleans… And also that when people catch this necklace, it opens people’s eyes to what’s possible with the type of throws that they catch,” he said.
Through his organization, he also sells post cards and poetry scrolls, all created and written by him.
“This is just one of the cogs in the wheel of helping people to shift away from mass produced plastic.”
There are many organizations like Atlas Beads that work to push this recycling effort, such as Glass Half Full and Osprey Foundation, who during the Mardi Gras season work team up with Recycle Dat!, an initiative led by Grounds Krewe, a local nonprofit whose goal is to promote waste prevention during Mardi Gras and beyond.
“I am one of 100 people any given year,” Fitzwilliam said.
This year, he acted as a station lead which entailed putting up X-Frames, where people can drop off their plastics and cans.
Every year, Fitzwilliam goes out on the town as his character Canny the Recycling Clown, promoting sustainability in a fun way. He is also a part of a krewe called the Re-Cyclists, formerly known as the Trashformers, who dress up in “recycling pun costumes or as recycling superheroes.” For the last two years they have been riding with Krewe Boheme.
“When I go to parades, nothing ends up on the ground ever, and basically nothing ends up in the trash” he said. “To me, there doesn’t have to be any trash on the ground.”
Fitzwilliam is one of many advocates, volunteers, and residents around the city who are working towards a cleaner future.
“What we’re doing is having fun, we’re living that, where we’re preserving what’s beautiful about Mardi Gras,” Fitzwilliam said.
