Times Square New Year’s Eve Bash Resulted in 40 Tons of Trash

Now that it’s 2009 and New Year celebrations are over, what remains – in Times Square, at least – is tons and tons of trash. About 40 tons of confetti, cups, napkins, hats and other garbage accumulated in the streets during the New Year’s Eve bash and now the city Department of Sanitation gets to take on the job of cleaning it all up.

From USA Today:

Cleanup crews hit the streets shortly after midnight Thursday following the 2009 ball drop. Sanitation spokesman Keith Mellis said 163 people worked until 8 a.m. to sweep up the party trash, and a new shift started at 11 a.m. to tidy the area.

Because of the wind — nearly 25 mph gusts throughout the city — the department wasn’t quite sure how much trash was strewn about, but Mellis expected a little more than last year’s 40 tons. The Times Square Alliance, which puts on the event, said about 1 million people attended.

40 tons. That’s a lot of trash, and with the wind blowing, you wonder whether they managed to get it all. What a waste – literally. It’s amazing how many pieces of plastic or paper we use just once and then throw into a landfill. I guess this sort of takes away from the coolness of the new eco-friendly Times Square ball. Maybe next year New York City will make some kind of effort to cut back on the amount of trash that’s produced – that would really be getting somewhere.

Link [USA Today]

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