How New Orleans Celebrates Sustainably, From Culture to Coastline

When people quieted down during the pandemic is when the rest of the world really started to sing. 

While human life was put on pause, wildlife gained a new sense of freedom that allowed it to thrive in ways many of us may have never experienced (or even thought possible), like dolphins swimming in Venice’s canals and improved air quality in 84% of countries worldwide.   

Whether those changes happened in communities big or small, there’s no denying they were felt everywhere, including across the meetings and events industry, where trends and initiatives that were already at the forefront took on even more importance—and entirely new approaches.  

“When we hear the word ‘sustainability,’ we know it’s been a part of the language in the meetings industry for a long time, and like many things, it’s evolved over time,” said Stephanie Turner, senior vice president, conventions sales and strategies at New Orleans & Company.  

“It was clear that sustainability was becoming a renewed focus [post-pandemic], and there was a lot of energy behind it in our industry,” said Kevin Ferguson, vice president of external affairs at New Orleans & Company. “There are things that we pursue on our own, and then there are things, I think, that we’re responsive to depending on what we hear from the industry. And sustainability was a little bit of both, right? We knew this was the direction that we wanted ourselves to go. It's better for our residents. It's better for the city. Therefore, it's better for visitors.” 

Groups traveling to New Orleans post-pandemic started asking more questions about how they could reduce their environmental impact and take advantage of the resources available to leave the destination better than they found it, Turner said.  

New Orleans made sure to deliver.  

Through the development of brand-new recycling initiatives, the recent LEED Gold certification of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) and opportunities for both individuals and groups to participate in conservation efforts, New Orleans is prepared to welcome visitors to a new era of sustainability. 

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New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center  

“As we started digging [into sustainability], it was great to find that there were a number of folks already doing incredible work, like the convention center,” Ferguson said. “They are certainly, I think, the leader in the hospitality space.” 

Last October, NOENMCC became the first convention center in the world to earn LEED Gold certification under the latest LEED program, v4.1 O+M, “the next generation standard for green building design, construction, operations and performance” that “raises the bar on building standards to address energy efficiency, water conservation, site selection, material selection, day lighting and waste reduction,” according to the U.S. Green Building Council.  

The achievement made NOENMCC the largest LEED-certified project in Louisiana and the fifth largest LEED-certified convention center in the U.S. NOENMCC’s LEED Gold certification came as a result of the center’s $20.6 million project to reduce energy-related expenses, which earned NOENMCC a total of 67 points across areas including: 

• Energy: NOENMCC earned 20 points in the energy category for updated lighting and air-conditioning systems and an overall improved energy performance.  

• Water: The center earned a total of six points for installing new cooling towers, low-flow fixtures in 37 sets of restrooms and 87 water bottle filling stations, reducing overall water usage.  

• Waste: NOENMCC earned eight points for implementing more sustainable maintenance and renovation policies, creating new and more sustainable purchasing policies and conducting a successful waste audit. NOENMCC’s “trash team” spent 24 hours sifting through the convention center’s waste and pulling samples from different areas of the building to evaluate how waste was being disposed of and what the center could do to improve its output.  

• Transportation: NOENMCC earned nine points for achieving “a favorable transportation survey outcome” and boosting its employees’ low-emission and hybrid vehicles score. 

• Human Experience: The center was awarded 18 points for enforcing no-smoking policies indoors and outdoors, maintaining good indoor air quality, improving green cleaning policies and integrating sustainable pest management.  

• An additional six points were earned for reducing outdoor light pollution, using more environmentally friendly refrigerants, scoring high on a cleanliness audit and sharing NOENMCC’s success in sustainability with the community through outreach and education.  

  

“We’re committed to making the building and our events more innovative and sustainable,” said Linda Baynham, director of sustainability for NOENMCC. “Everything that we’re doing is to help transform New Orleans into a more sustainable destination for visitors and also, as a member of the community, to be more sustainable and reduce our impacts.” 

Groups looking to host a sustainable event at NOENMCC can take advantage of initiatives and offerings that include: 

• Recycling: The center offers multiple recycling areas for attendees as well as dedicated collection areas for cardboard, metal, pallets and plastic in the back of house, and glass recycling is available with Glass Half Full by request. In 2022, the center diverted more than 400,000 pounds of material from landfills through its recycling programs. “If an event knows they’re going to have a special waste stream that can be recycled, we’ll work with them to make sure that they can increase their diversion rate and increase the recycling rate,” Baynham said.  

• Composting: NOENMCC’s food service provider, Sodexo Live!, composts organic kitchen waste. The center uses mostly plastic-free utensils made of biodegradable materials and offers china, fully compostable serving-ware sets and composting for event F&B areas upon request.   

• 

  Food Donations: Sodexo Live! also coordinates donations to local partners and organizations, which led to more than 64,000 pounds of donated food in 2019. 

• Event Donations: Organized through New Orleans & Company, groups have access to a wide network of local organizations.  

• Metrics: NOENMCC can track sustainability metrics and provide events with impact reports upon request.  

“We’re a major driver of hospitality in New Orleans. We’re the cornerstone, and we know there’s an obligation to the community and to the environment, and also to events that want to reduce their impacts,” Baynham said. “We’re showing we love our city by reducing our impacts and sharing what we do. We want people to come in and see not just what we’re doing right but also what we’re trying to figure out how to do better.” 

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RecycleDat!, Mardi Gras Sustainability Initiative 

Until 2003, when Mayor C. Ray Nagin put an end to the practice, the success of Mardi Gras wasn’t measured by the number of people lining Bourbon Street or how many hotel room nights were booked during the Carnival season. Instead, the celebration’s success was based on the amount of trash collected along the parade route, according to New Orleans & Company.  

In 2019, Mardi Gras produced more than 2.6 million pounds of street waste—which is waste that was specifically left on the street—and none of it was recycled. In 2022, 2.5 million pounds of street waste from Mardi Gras ended up in landfills in less than two weeks.  

“[New Orleans & Company] got more engaged [in sustainability], and I think the city started to recognize our involvement, our ability to really bring the community together around sustainability,” Ferguson said. “Then, we were approached about launching a recycling initiative during Mardi Gras.” 

This year, New Orleans & Company, in partnership with the City of New Orleans, Arc of Greater New Orleans (ArcGNO), NOLA Ready, Grounds Krewe, Can Manufacturer’s Institute and more non-profits, decided it was not only time to rethink the cleanup efforts following Mardi Gras celebrations, but to do so in a way that educated and inspired others to be more aware of their sustainability efforts moving forward.  

From their collaboration came the new Mardi Gras sustainability initiative, RecycleDat!, which helps keep trash from the celebration off the streets, out of drainage systems and away from landfills.  

“We were looking for something that we could activate on the actual parade route,” Ferguson said. “The focus was on three things: aluminum, glass and beads.” 

RecycleDat! aims to promote the recycling of these materials through the distribution of free collection bags for Mardi Gras beads and the establishment of four stationary “Recycling Hubs” for cans, beads and glass collection along the parade route. 

While most people are familiar with both glass and aluminum recycling, Ferguson said, when it comes to bead recycling, the process doesn’t involve melting the plastic beads down. Rather, the goal is to return the beads back to commerce.  

“There are a few groups here that do the work. We partnered with ArcGNO, which is a group that focuses on enabling and supporting people with mental handicaps, and they get these beads, they sort them by color. Some beads are branded, so they sort those out, and they’re able to resell those beads to finance their operations,” Ferguson said. “It’s a really great cause, and we’re going to focus on expanding it.” 

This year, RecycleDat! took place over two weekends and collected: 

• 1,475 pounds of aluminum, or roughly 50,000 cans 

• 1,500 pounds of glass 

• 11,535 pounds of Mardi Gras beads and throws 

The money collected by the program through recycling these materials also benefited several other local entities, Turner said, including the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, a crucial sustainability initiative taking care of the state’s nearly 400 miles of coastline.  

“It was significant, and it really got our local community excited about the initiative,” Turner said. “Why I love to look at RecycleDat! is because if something as big as Mardi Gras can do it, then something smaller can do it, too. 

“Mardi Gras spans a two-week period. It’s massive in size. It covers a three-mile radius, and that’s just one celebration. It literally takes up the entire metropolitan area,” Turner continued. “If events this massive and this large can focus on sustainability, then how can we do better at encouraging and motivating others to believe they can think sustainably from a meetings industry perspective?” 

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The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana 

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) was established in 1988 as Louisiana’s first statewide non-profit organization dedicated to coastal restoration. For 35 years, CRCL has taken on restoration projects across the state’s coastline that protect Louisiana’s wetlands, provide hurricane protection, create healthy ecosystems and open economic opportunities along the coast.  

“It's one of the largest organizations of this type in the country,” Turner said.  

In 2014, CRCL started a new era with the establishment of the Oyster Shell Recycling Program (OSRP) to keep shells out of landfills and slow coastal land loss. Oyster shells, living oysters and oyster reefs “help improve water quality, provide fishing habitat, support the local economy and help protect shoreline by breaking waves,” according to the CRCL website.  

“Louisiana produces a third of the nation's oysters, and OSRP has recycled more than 13 million pounds of oyster shells from New Orleans restaurants since 2014, which has helped restore and protect over 8,000 feet of shoreline,” Turner said. “As a visitor, if sustainability is important to you, you can go to their website and see the restaurants that participate, and it tells you a little bit about [OSRP] at each one, so you can pick a restaurant that really speaks to what you like.” 

There are opportunities for individuals to get involved in OSRP efforts, too, including volunteering to help bag shells for use in reef restoration projects and joining CRCL on the water for a reef deployment. If projects aren’t entirely booked, Turner said, CRCL can work with groups of up to 50 people.  

“A group can do a project where they participate in [OSRP] and basically, the oysters from participating restaurants around town are collected, they’re cleaned, they’re bagged and then they’re sent to the coast and put down in the coastline,” Turner said. “So, if you're a visitor and you're here, it's very quick and easy to get [to the Gulf] through a charter, and you're helping protect the coastline. It’s something where you can really see how you give back.” 

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New Orleans & Company 

“We often don’t think we can make an impression as an individual or make a difference, and yet, we can,” Turner said. “I do believe that these examples [of sustainability] are so concrete and real—you can visualize [Hotel Peter and Paul] saving $70,000 a year after cutting plastic bottles. These examples give everyone that power and that ability to see that we can all make a difference and have a positive impact.”  

“And those are the stories we want to tell and the ones we want to make sure folks are aware of,” Ferguson added. “We create opportunities and resources to get them engaged while amplifying the folks doing good work.”  

To help meeting planners better understand how they can make a sustainable difference in New Orleans, Turner and Ferguson have been working together to compile a list of hotel, community, DMC and other partner organizations with green teams and initiatives. The effort aims to create a new resource for meeting planners to use when organizing sustainable gatherings in the city.  

“We want to do an informal group so that we can aggregate, as the DMO for the community, every single thing so that when our meeting planner wants to know about sustainability, we’ll have it all in one place,” Turner said. “We know that there’s so much more going on, so we’re going to be aggregating that as one of our services to our customers. We’ll be building out a webpage very shortly. 

“This is why our industry is so important. We bring people together from all walks of life, from all around the globe, so when people started addressing these things, then we really do make a difference, and we really are changemakers,” Turner continued. “With any great movement, you start with small things, and the little pieces of it are the pieces that make a difference.”  

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New Orleans & Company 
(800) 672-6124   

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