The Times Square ball drop releases something close to a ton of confetti at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The cleanup the next day takes a city sanitation crew most of the morning. Multiply that across every major New Year’s celebration in every city, plus thousands of smaller New Year’s parties, plus weddings, graduations, sporting events, parades, and corporate events throughout the year, and you have a substantial waste stream of small plastic pieces designed to get scattered everywhere.
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Most conventional confetti is plastic — typically PVC or mylar. It doesn’t biodegrade. The pieces wash into storm drains, blow into nearby parks, get caught in tree branches, end up in waterways, and in some particularly unfortunate cases end up in the ocean as microplastic pollution. The cleanup that municipal crews do recovers a fraction of what was scattered.
Compostable confetti exists, works fine, and at scale costs roughly the same as plastic. The switch is one of the easier sustainability moves in event planning. Here’s how to do it.
What’s Wrong With Plastic Confetti
The basic problem is that confetti is designed to disperse and not be recovered. That’s part of the joy of confetti — the chaotic, beautiful scatter at the moment of celebration. But it means whatever the confetti is made of ends up everywhere afterward.
For plastic confetti specifically:
It doesn’t biodegrade. A piece of mylar confetti scattered on a sidewalk in 2025 will still be there in 2050, in roughly the same form. UV exposure breaks it into smaller pieces over decades, eventually microplastic-sized, but the polymer doesn’t actually decompose.
Storm drains and waterways. Confetti washes off streets in the next rain, flows into storm drains, ends up in local waterways. From local waterways into rivers, then into oceans. Microplastic pollution is the long-term destination of a lot of glitter, mylar, and small plastic fragments — including confetti.
Wildlife. Birds and small animals occasionally eat plastic fragments mistaking them for food. Cleanup crews sometimes find confetti in dead birds. The aggregate effect across millions of pieces is real.
Visual pollution. The party ends; the confetti stays in the gutters, the sidewalk cracks, the planting beds for months. Especially in older neighborhoods with brick or cobblestone, plastic confetti gets stuck in places that don’t get cleaned regularly.
Cleanup labor. Municipal cleanup of plastic confetti takes hours or days after big events. The cost is substantial and falls on the city rather than the event organizer.
The root cause is that plastic confetti is durable. Durability is exactly what you don’t want in a single-use product designed to be scattered.
Compostable Confetti Options
Several compostable alternatives are commercially available.
Paper confetti. The simplest alternative. Cut from paper into small pieces (circles, hearts, stars, custom shapes). Biodegrades in days to weeks under normal outdoor conditions; in a compost pile, in a couple weeks. Available in any color, any shape, any quantity from event suppliers.
Cost: roughly $5-15 per pound for plain paper confetti, more for custom or specialty. A pound covers a substantial confetti moment.
Dried flower petals. Real dried flower petals from rose, marigold, lavender, or other flowers. Biodegradable (they’re literally plant material), beautiful, often fragrant. Common at weddings; gaining ground at other celebrations.
Cost: $20-50 per pound depending on type and source. More expensive than paper but a smaller quantity covers the same visual impact because the petals are larger.
Dried leaves and herbs. Crumbled bay leaves, dried mint or oregano leaves, autumn leaves, specifically prepared leaf confetti. Highly biodegradable; the herbs can even smell pleasant. Less colorful than flower petals or dyed paper but a distinctive look.
Cost: variable; can be DIY for nearly free or purchased at specialty event suppliers.
Rice paper or wafer confetti. Edible paper-thin wafers cut into shapes. Used for some food applications and for celebrations where guests might be exposed (kids’ parties, etc.). Biodegradable and food-safe.
Biodegradable specialty confetti. Some manufacturers produce confetti from PLA bioplastic, cellulose-based films, or other compostable materials. More expensive than paper; sometimes positioned as premium or specialty options.
What about glitter? Standard glitter is plastic — basically tiny plastic flakes coated with reflective material. Worse than confetti for environmental impact because the pieces are smaller. Compostable “bio-glitter” exists (cellulose-based, eucalyptus-based) and works similarly to plastic glitter for most applications. If your event involves glitter, bio-glitter is the compostable alternative.
DIY Compostable Confetti
For smaller events, DIY confetti is essentially free.
Hole-punch paper. A standard hole punch produces small paper circles that work as confetti. Use colorful paper from old magazines, holiday catalogs, or paper scraps. Time-intensive but produces unlimited quantities at zero cost. Different hole punches produce different shapes (hearts, stars, etc.).
Cut newspaper. Rip or cut old newspaper into small strips or pieces. Black-and-white aesthetic; very biodegradable. Common in some cultural celebrations.
Dried garden petals. If you have a garden, dry rose petals, hydrangea blooms, or other flowers from the previous season. Spread on a baking sheet for a few days; store in a paper bag. Free and beautiful.
Tear-up tissue paper. Tissue paper from gift wrapping torn into small pieces. Already in many homes; biodegradable.
Crumbled autumn leaves. Dried fallen leaves crumbled in your hands. Free, abundant, environmentally appropriate.
For New Year’s specifically, the New Year’s Eve hole-punch session — going through old magazines and calendar pages while watching pre-midnight TV — has become a low-key tradition for some sustainability-minded households.
Cost Comparison: Plastic vs. Compostable
For event planners running the numbers, compostable confetti is competitive on cost at small to medium scales.
Plastic confetti:
– Bulk plastic confetti: $4-8 per pound from event suppliers
– Plastic glitter: $20-40 per pound (more expensive than plastic confetti)
– Plastic streamer rolls: cost per linear foot varies
Compostable confetti:
– Paper confetti, plain: $5-15 per pound (roughly comparable to plastic)
– Paper confetti, custom shapes/colors: $15-30 per pound
– Dried petals: $20-50 per pound
– DIY: nearly free if you have time
For a small wedding scattering 1-2 lbs of confetti, the cost difference between plastic and paper is $5-25 — invisible on a wedding budget. For a major event using dozens of pounds, the math gets larger but compostable is still affordable.
The real cost comparison includes cleanup. Compostable confetti that biodegrades or composts naturally requires less aggressive cleanup. The municipal labor cost for plastic confetti cleanup, if you’re a city or large venue, can dwarf the per-event procurement cost difference.
Specific Event Applications
New Year’s Eve celebrations. The big one. Major venues (Times Square, civic events) and smaller parties (neighborhood parties, household celebrations) both use confetti at midnight. Paper confetti in colors matching the year (gold, silver, black, etc.) works great. Some major events have switched; the scale is significant when they do.
Weddings. Confetti exits and ceremony toss are common. Dried flower petals are the upscale standard; paper confetti works for budget-friendly weddings. Most wedding venues prohibit rice (slip hazard, occasional bird-related concerns) and increasingly prohibit plastic confetti and glitter for cleanup reasons. Compostable alternatives are usually expected.
Graduations. Toss-the-cap moment plus general celebration. Paper confetti in school colors. Some schools formally use compostable; many don’t yet but are easy targets for switching.
Sporting events. Championship celebrations, opening day events, victory parades. The biggest celebrations involve professional-grade confetti cannons and similar equipment. Many professional venues have started specifying biodegradable confetti for cleanup reasons.
Birthday parties and casual celebrations. Small-scale; almost always uses whatever’s at the local party store. Compostable options at party stores still uncommon; ordering online is straightforward.
Photo shoots and commercial events. Confetti is widely used for marketing photography and event content. Compostable confetti is increasingly specified by sustainability-conscious brands and venues.
Municipal Considerations
For cities and venues, the math on compostable confetti requirements is increasingly attractive.
Cleanup cost reduction. Compostable confetti that biodegrades doesn’t need full physical removal. Streets crews can sweep the obvious; rain handles the rest over a week. Plastic confetti requires full pickup or it sits indefinitely.
Storm drain protection. Compostable confetti that washes into storm drains breaks down before reaching waterways. Plastic confetti accumulates in drains and contributes to urban water pollution.
Public space aesthetics. A city that hosts large events in parks and plazas benefits from compostable confetti — the parks stay clean longer, the brick and stone don’t accumulate plastic in cracks.
Some cities have started requiring compostable confetti for permitted outdoor events. The trend is gradual but real. Event organizers planning in cities should verify current local requirements.
Suppliers
Where to source compostable confetti:
Paper confetti, biodegradable options:
– Amazon and similar online (search “biodegradable confetti”)
– Etsy (lots of small specialty makers; good for custom shapes and colors)
– Bulk event supply (Oriental Trading, Party City — varies by store)
– Specialty event suppliers and wedding planners often source compostable directly
Dried flower petals:
– Wholesale floral suppliers (often available bulk)
– Etsy specialty makers
– Some wedding-specific suppliers
Bio-glitter (compostable glitter):
– Specialty manufacturers (Bioglitter, EcoStardust, etc.)
– Premium event supply
For DIY:
– Standard hole punch ($5-15)
– Paper sources: free at home in any drawer
For most events, online ordering 4-6 weeks ahead provides plenty of options. For DIY, an evening of hole-punching produces unlimited supply.
What to Avoid
A few specific traps worth flagging:
“Biodegradable” without certification or verification. As with other sustainability claims, generic biodegradable claims aren’t enforceable. Look for specifics: paper, dried flowers, leaves, or certified bioplastic. Generic plastic confetti labeled “biodegradable” without specifics is often greenwashing.
Glitter mixed with paper confetti. Some “compostable” products turn out to be paper mixed with plastic glitter. The plastic glitter is the problematic component. Read product descriptions carefully.
Plastic-coated paper. Some printed paper confetti has glossy plastic coatings that prevent biodegradation. Plain matte paper biodegrades; glossy plastic-coated paper doesn’t.
Foil confetti. Mylar and foil confetti is plastic regardless of how it’s described. Skip it for compostable applications.
Big-bag celebrations of glitter. Glitter bombs, glitter cannons, large quantities of glitter scattered for celebrations — basically all microplastic pollution unless explicitly bio-glitter. Switch to bio-glitter or skip.
The Honest Bottom Line
Compostable confetti is one of the lower-effort sustainability switches in event planning. It costs about the same as plastic. It looks the same or better. It biodegrades after the celebration so cleanup is easier. The customer-facing or guest-facing message is positive. There’s basically no reason to use plastic confetti at any event today.
The reasons it persists are mostly inertia (the event supplier you’ve used for years carries plastic; you’ve never thought to ask for alternatives) and regulatory gap (most jurisdictions don’t yet require compostable, so the default keeps getting bought). Both are easy to fix.
For your next celebration — New Year’s, wedding, graduation, anniversary, just an excuse to throw a party — try compostable confetti. Order it ahead, scatter it at the right moment, and let nature finish the cleanup over the next two weeks. The visual impact is the same. The aftermath is cleaner. The story you can tell about the celebration is better.
For Times Square specifically, that’s a multi-stakeholder decision involving the venue operators, the celebrity hosts, and the major sponsors, but the trend toward compostable at major venues is real and accelerating. The next major year-end celebration that switches will probably do it for the marketing value as much as the environmental case — and the marketing value is real, because guests and viewers do notice when a celebration looks beautiful but isn’t a microplastic event waiting to happen.
For procurement teams verifying compostable claims, the controlling references are BPI certification (North America), EN 13432 (EU), and the FTC Green Guides on environmental marketing claims — these are the only sources U.S. enforcement actions cite.
For B2B sourcing, see our compostable supplies catalog or compostable bags catalog.