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SXSW cleanup begins as thousands leave
City staff works around the clock
Updated: Sunday, 17 Mar 2013, 9:59 PM CDT
Published : Sunday, 17 Mar 2013, 9:50 PM CDT
AUSTIN (KXAN) - It's no secret Austin is a bit of a mess after South By Southwest. With trash littering the street, crews are working overtime to get things back to normal.
As thousands and thousands of people pack their bags and head home, their trash still lingers.
SXSW keeps growing each year, and so does the amount of garbage. The city has to work even harder to keep up. About 30 people are working over 23 hours a day they're now in charge of returning Austin to pre-South By beauty.
"As time went on we had to add people because it became overwhelming," said Waste Manager, Ray Armstrong. "We put out 200 extra containers just to hold the capacity of trash."
Toni Napolitano, is visiting on business from Fort Lauderdale, as she walked down East 6th Street she says she couldn't help but notice the huge mess.
"It's filthy," said Napolitano. "I mean this is the capital you have beautiful tress, you have beautiful buildings, but this doesn't represent well.
"My question is who is paying for this," said Hugo Medina, in town for SXSW from Houston.
The answer? The city of Austin. Last year they spent about $122,000 to get it all done. That's about $50,000 more than 2011. This year's price tag is only expected to grow.
In an effort to work smarter not harder the city wrapped poles in plastic to make it easier to tear down the hundreds of posters people taped on.
For Napolitano, she says fixing this growing problem starts at home with the people who live in Austin. Expecting to see more signs discouraging litter.
The message: lay down the ground rules that Austin won't put up with other people's mess.
" I think if the people that live here are friendly and they demonstrate cleanliness or an attitude of wanting to keep the streets clean it will go a lot further for those coming from out of town," said Napolitano.
Crews are expected to be back out on the streets Monday as well making sure everything is gone. Numbers on exactly how many tons of trash were collected are expected to be released later in the week by the Austin Resource Recovery Department.
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