Leipzig's city cleaning service collects less New Year's Eve waste

The Leipzig city cleaning service collected slightly less garbage on the streets on New Year's Day than a year ago. "Our colleagues have so far removed just under 74 cubic meters of New Year's Eve waste in the city area," said a press spokeswoman in Leipzig on Wednesday. However, the figure could rise slightly over the next few days, as the clean-up work in the outlying areas has not yet been fully completed. Last year, almost 85 cubic meters of New Year's Eve waste was collected.

Despite the slight decrease, the amount of waste is still too large. The city cleaning service pointed out that the polluter pays principle actually applies: those who produce waste should collect it and take it away. The cleaning staff were on duty in Leipzig city center for more than ten hours from midnight on New Year's Day. The remains of firework batteries in particular made cleaning difficult, as they were too large for the cleaning machines.