Flyers, beads, confetti and the like are tossed in the air nearly round the clock as the huge crowds wander through New Orleans in search of a good time.
Tuesday is “Fat Tuesday” and that means the city of New Orleans is got a huge clean-up job that starts over each night of the Mardi Gras celebration.
Veronica White, New Orleans Public Works Director says, “The tons of trash don't pile up for long. Ten to twelve street sweepers roll through the New Orleans streets every night to clean up after the parades end for the day.”
While the Sanitation Department has about 24 regular employees, about 200 to 300 workers are needed each night to sweep, rake and collect the trash left behind.
White added that, “The task of cleaning up after a parade includes six front-end loaders, four street flushers, 16 dump trucks, eight to 10 garbage trucks and six to 10 pressure washers. During the parades, four teams of workers tag along behind the floats, the first group of workers is located at the beginning of the parade route and begins to sweep and rake up the trash immediately after the parade passes the area. Two more teams wait at the mid sections of the parade, and another team waits at the ending located on Canal Street in the French Quarter,”
”About $1.5 to $2 million is spent cleaning up during an entire Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, she said.”
In New Orleans, workers place more than 1,000 55-gallon trash barrels along the New Orleans parade routes, Sometimes the cans help minimize trash, but often parade-goers use the cans for a stand, White said.
