SAN ANTONIO —  Fiesta 2018 has ended, and each year, the 10-day festivities attract tens of thousands of people, along with tons of trash and debris.

To give an idea of the amount of garage collected during Fiesta:

• Crews collected 7 tons of garbage after the Battle of Flowers Parade
• Flambeau Parade – 32 tons.
• Entire 11-day celebration piled on more than 77 tons 

“We’re really seeing the impacts to our environment because of garbage,” said Nefi Garza with San Antonio's Transportation & Capital Improvements.  

Garza's department’s main priority is to keep our environment safe, including creeks and rivers.

“The more we can collect on the street side; the more we can throw in the containers, it will be much better for our system,” Garza explained.  

Stormwater crews undertook the huge task of cleaning up Fiesta every single night.

“We think somebody will pick it up, well, the reality is that it gets in our rivers, clogs up our waterways, clogs up our tunnels underground, and makes flooding even more of a problem,” he said.

Adding recycle bins and providing bags to visitors continues to help reduce the waste left behind, and Garza said he hopes the trend will continue.