Environmental group creating all natural confetti eggs ahead of Old Spanish Days
Cascarónes are hollowed-out eggs that are filled with confetti and go hand in hand with Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days.
The eggs are decorated with glitter, paint, glues, and other decorations that are non-biodegradable. Some of the confetti is lined with mylar; a form of polyester resin used to make heat-resistant plastic films and sheets.
Every year, thousands of people crack thousands of cascarónes on city streets. Much of the debris washes into storm drains and ends up in waterways and the ocean.
“Plastic waste in the ocean is such a problem. It never goes away, never fully breaks down,” said Rachel Palmer.
Palmer is an art coordinator at the non-profit Explore Ecology’s Art from Scrap store. Art from Scrap takes in “unwanted trash and items” from people in the community. The items are re-purposed into art, or given to teachers to use in the classroom.
On Saturday, people headed to the store to learn how to make cascarónes with all natural products.
Onion skins and beets were used to dye the eggs which were filled with crushed leaves and flowers.
“We think if we could make these with leaves, plants or flowers that are going to biodegrade and that’s not going to have such an impact on our environment,” Palmer said.
