After the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square, these workers get busy

Published Dec 30, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. ET

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Published Dec 30, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. ET

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A million people will pack Times Square on New Year's Eve to celebrate the start of 2024, according to city officials. It's up to just 200 sanitation workers to clean up what they leave behind.

Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the crew will clear around 100,000 pounds of confetti, streamers, hats and novelty eyewear from the streets and sidewalks by sunrise.

“The goal is that by daybreak the next morning, Times Square should look as good as new,” she said. “Like nothing ever happened.”

And each year, the workers manage to get it done after months of preparation and lessons learned from past years.

Shortly after the ball drops, the team hits the pavement and stays out long after most New Yorkers hit the hay. They use backpack blowers, brooms and street sweepers to suck up the litter over the course of about six hours.

Tisch said all the planning culminated in a Friday morning rehearsal with the Times Square Alliance business group.

“They throw confetti, they see how it lands and we take some of our new trucks and we have it run over the confetti to make sure that the equipment is picking up,” she said.

Tisch said revelers in Times Square can make the job easier by clearing the area shortly after midnight and carrying their trash out with them — maybe save those 2024 eyeglasses as a souvenir.

Sanitation worker Jimmy Parker, a trustee with the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, said the annual effort is a point of pride for him and his colleagues. Their union hall is decorated with photos of members clearing the confetti at the start of new years past, Parker said.

“They do a fantastic job, and we’re very proud of what we do,” he said.

Though it may be hard work, Parker said the confetti monsoon is nothing compared to a snowstorm.

“I’d still put snow above it,” he said. “I think when there’s a bad blizzard, we open the streets of New Yorkers and let ambulances get to where they need to go.”

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David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email dbrand@nypublicradio.org or Signal 908-310-3960.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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