SXSW cleanup costs thousands

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The tens of thousands of people who attended South By Southwest are now on their way home. But much of their trash cleanup remains in Austin. City officials say it will cost $122,000 to pick it all up.

As the event grows bigger every year, the city has to work even harder to get the trash cleaned up quickly.

Austin Resource Recovery is in charge of making sure everything is tidy after all the visitors go home.

The city spent $50,000 more this year compared to 2011's event.

The city says they've picked up double the amount of trash during the week of south by, alone. They currently have a crew of about 30 people who work 24 hours a day all week just to keep the city looking clean.

As all the party-goers left town, crews were out Monday continuing to pick up the trash.

To keep up with the growth of SXSW, the city's resource recovery center plans to expand and add more staff to help keep up.