New Orleans is filled with big crowds and nearly full hotels proving the recession can’t keep true Mardi Gras fans away.

And if Mardi Gras is doing great things for New Orleans tourism industry, just imagine what it does for the bead industry? According to Jaunted.com the goodies tossed from Mardi Gras floats rack up millions of dollars in sales each year, with individual float riders each disbursing nearly a thousand dollars worth of stuff. I wonder how much trash Mardi Gras beads create? (and I don’t just mean the topless kind, eh oh!) So if you’re out on Bourbon Street flashing your fanciness for plastic pieces, takepart and send your beads to the Arc of Greater New Orleans chapter (this group helps parents and their children affected by mental retardation and related developmental disabilities) and they’ll resell them with profits going to eco-activism.