Have You Seen This? Who's gonna clean up all this confetti?

Confetti flies in Times Square, New York City, New York, on Jan. 1.

Confetti flies in Times Square, New York City, New York, on Jan. 1. (ViralHog via YouTube)


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THE BIG APPLE – Imagine that you're standing in Times Square. It's New Year's Eve, and you've joined thousands of other revelers waiting to see the legendary ball drop that marks our entry into yet another year.

The countdown gets more boisterous with each passing second. Suddenly, the ball drops, and three thousand pounds of confetti fill the air. What's that? You don't know what three thousand pounds of confetti looks like? Check out this video for a visual reference.

I'm sure it's thrilling to be standing there, surrounded by confetti and celebratory songs. But as a parent, I'd probably feel a pit in my stomach. After all, who's gonna clean up this mess? Three thousand pounds of confetti won't just go away on its own.

After watching this video, I did a little research. It turns out that it takes over 300 personnel from the New York City Department of Sanitation to clean up this mess each year. Armed with mechanical brooms, hand brooms, backpack blowers and other tools, these brave individuals collect 53 tons of debris (including the aforementioned three thousand pounds of confetti).

Impressively enough, people say that everything usually looks clean as a whistle the next day. You'd hardly even know that chaos had reigned just a few short hours earlier.

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Grant Olsen for KSLGrant Olsen
Grant Olsen joined the KSL contributor team in 2012. He covers outdoor adventures, travel, product reviews and other interesting things.
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