Sanitation workers collected 2,600 tons of fireworks debris in
the Chinese capital during the seven-day Chinese Lunar New Year
holiday, the most important festival in China.
Sources with the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission
said that some 87,500 sanitation workers and 1,729 sweepers spent
seven days and nights collecting tattered red-paper cardboard
casings from spent fireworks on 2,698 streets, totaling 51.24
million square meters in the city.
Fireworks are part of traditional celebrations marking the
Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, a big day
for family reunion, which falls on February 18 this year.
Since Beijing lifted a 12-year ban in 2006, fireworks have made
a loud return to the city, with sales increasing sharply this year
to 380,000 boxes, compared with 240,000 boxes last year, according
to a municipal public security official.
Sanitation workers started on the night of February 17 sweeping
debris of firecrackers ignited on the eve of the Lunar New Year as
the municipal authorities had ordered an early clean-up.
(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2007)
