2022 Global Recycling Day: Promoting Mardi Gras Sustainability

APTIM is positioned all over the country to assist our clients and partners with their sustainability, clean energy, energy efficiency, and ESG initiatives. Fortunately for us and the city of New Orleans, one employee in particular continues his sustainability efforts outside of work by tackling the ongoing garbage crisis that ensues after each parade during annual Mardi Gras festivities. Kevin Fitzwilliam, APTIM Sustainability Specialist, puts his passion for recycling to good use with his participation in Grounds Krewe’s Trashformers as well as his small business startup, Atlas Beads, which offers beads and bracelets from recycled magazine paper.

Trashformers

“For decades, city and tourism officials proudly measured Mardi Gras’ economic success by how much trash we generated. More recently, concerned citizens — yours truly among them — have been trying to raise public awareness of the ecological impact of all that trash,” Kevin described in an op-ed for The Lens. As a founding member of the Trashformers, Kevin helps protect the city of New Orleans from the onslaught of plastic waste historically left behind from Mardi Gras. By providing accessible crawfish sacks and bags for parade-goers to recycle their unwanted beads along with bottles and cans, Trashformers helps create a more sustainable Carnival.

To learn more about Grounds Krewe and Trashformers, click here.

Atlas Beads

As an alternative to the plastic throws produced for Mardi Gras each year, Atlas Beads sells handmade and unique jewelry, crafted by a women’s art collective in Uganda. Atlas offers a fair wage that provides secondary income to the artists, allowing them to improve the lives of their children and families.

In addition to having a financial impact on a community far away from the Crescent City, Atlas aims to broaden the appeal of unique, handmade, and green Mardi Gras throws. “There is overwhelming support for Mardi Gras to be less wasteful, from both locals and tourists”, says Kevin. “All you have to do is have a conversation with someone who lives in New Orleans about plastic waste at Mardi Gras, and the odds are that they’re going to say that they’d like to see a more environmentally-friendly Mardi Gras in general.”

To learn more about Atlas Beads, click here.

For #GlobalRecyclingDay, We Thank Our Extraordinary Employees

Kevin’s extraordinary efforts to promote a more sustainable Mardi Gras is just one example of our companies’ commitment to protect and enhance the communities in which we live and serve. Everywhere you see APTIM, you will find team members just like Kevin who are putting their knowledge and expertise to good use, both at work and in their spare time.

APTIM Sustainability Services

APTIM works together with our clients to develop sustainability and energy solutions to meet their current needs and future ambitions. Every organization has unique opportunities and challenges. At APTIM, we understand that one solution does not fill all. Our team of sustainability and energy solutions experts work to identify the biggest areas of impact for our clients’ particular needs and priorities. Because of our broad experience, we connect the dots to create cross-functional solutions for our clients in the Government, Commercial and Industrial, and Energy markets.

APTIM offers comprehensive sustainability and energy solutions services. By working with one team to determine and realize our clients’ sustainability and energy goals, we ensure all systems are working together to optimize performance. Our Sustainability and Energy Solutions services include the following areas of support: