In Rio, organisers are making an effort to limit waste. This year, they launched a trailblazing recycling operation, intending to turn the carnival into "one of the biggest zero-waste events on the planet."
A member of the School of Samba Unidos de Capim Branco (ESUCAB) wears a refurbished carnival costume in Capim Branco, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, on February 15, 2023.
Image: Douglas Magno/ AFP©
Holding a dazzling jewel-encrusted crown decorated with green and orange feathers, Brazilian art teacher Regina Coeli places it on her head, making sure the fit is just right for her upcoming carnival parade.
She won't however be marching in the streets of Rio de Janeiro -- where her sparkling crown was created, worn once and then thrown away.
Each year, Coeli and other members of her samba school in the small town of Capim Branco rescue piles of discarded costumes from Rio's world-famous carnival.
Small armies of seamstresses at Rio's top samba schools spend months making the giant, glittering, sequin-studded costumes that are the trademark of the city's carnival parade competition.
But the world's biggest carnival ends every year with thousands of those costumes discarded on the ground, too unwieldy to fit inside the packed cars, buses, subways, trains and planes taking their owners home.