An example

Dennis Wheeler in a study of the huge Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras held in Sydney in February writes:

Rubbish Removal

Due to the type and timing of this event , rubbish removal is a major problem. In particular the amount of broken glass. One small section of the roadway took over two hours to clean. In one street the residents believed that there was a general council cleanup in progress so they put their household rubbish out on the street and the foot path This included old lounge suites and fridges.

This added to the parade rubbish and had to be removed before the road could be opened for general traffic.

Plastic milk crate collection is a major problem. Last year over 15,000 milk crates were collected. This required significant labour, three semi trailers and a lot of time. The creates had to be picked up before the general cleaning can take place.

Barrier Collection

The collection of crowd control barriers was a major exercise. It required 16 trucks and 63 staff in a closely controlled operation. The staff were carefully coached on how to deal with the public. The intoxicated nature of the crowd was just one of the problems.

Dennis Wheeler Jan 2000