Despite drastic increase in attendance, New York State Fairgrounds remain clean

As daily attendance to the New York State Fair reached an all-time high on its 175-year
anniversary, trash accumulated in the form of dropped tickets, sauce stained paper plates and classic 25-cent plastic milk cups.

Filing down Restaurant Row, thousands of people crowded around vendors, drawn by the flashy signs advertising a variety of fair delicacies.

Intermixed in the crowd were workers wearing bright orange vests carrying bags of trash, sweeping into dust pans and pushing large rolling trash bins.

Despite drastic increases in attendance this year, fair patrons said the overall cleanliness of the grounds compared to years past.

Yvonne Rivera said she has been working at the fair in trash removal for the past eight years.

“The people sweeping with the dustpan pick up anything on the ground — anything,” Rivera said.  “Even a straw wrapper.”

Rivera works for Human Technologies Corporation (HTC), which is contracted by the New York State Fair to manage waste. HTC hired 220 people with significant disabilities to fulfill the rubbish removal contract for the 12-day fair.

The 375-acre fairgrounds are divided into a grid and sub-sectioned into smaller areas. Rivera works Restaurant Row, a hotspot for fair trash. Each area has multiple dumpster sites, Rivera said, where workers transport trash constantly to whichever they are closest to.

With each passing year and growing attendance, the job gets increasingly strenuous.

“The more people, the more trash,” Rivera said.

After his first year of working the fair, Mark Hart, HTC-employed trash removal worker, has learned the tricks of the trade.

“I’ve learned which way to turn the dumpster walking through the crowd,” Hart said with chuckle. “If I turn left, they also move left to get out of the way. Mob mentality sort of thing.”

Both Rivera and Hart mentioned that the eight-to-12-hour shifts are significantly more efficient when trash personnel work together.

“Trash work flow has gotten better,” Rivera said. “If people help each other out in their sections then it’s easier to keep it clean, we are going right behind each other.”

Hart said this year’s group boosted efficiency compared to the previous year’s.

Workers said concerts at the fair tend to see more trash than any other area or time. The Lakeview Amphitheater accommodates 17,500 music lovers as well as all of the trash they bring to the concert with them.

“There’s more trash at the concerts, anything they eat and drink they literally drop it on the ground,” Rivera said. “We have to get rakes to clean it all up.”

Dan and Lisa Diuro, a couple from New Jersey, were sitting down and watching the scene as they were eating their favorite fair foods. The couple has made the six-hour drive to the fair for the last two years.

The couple said they have not seen trash significantly increasing in the aisles between booths, even though more people visited the fair this year compared to the last year.

“I’m not stepping over trash to get places,” Dan Diuro said. “They have people come by and clean out the trash cans every couple of minutes.”

The couple said they saw four to five workers cleaning out bins during the 20 minutes they spent at the barbecue restaurant where they ordered.

“It’s a necessary evil,” Hart said as he knotted up the full plastic trash bag and threw it over his shoulder. “And we do it very well.”