We’re thankful for the Big Apple’s street sweepers.
The city Department of Sanitation ended up picking up a horrendous 41.54 tons of tossed food, discarded clothing and other rubbish that was littered across the 2.5-mile route of Thursday’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The dirty post-parade haul was equal in weight to a chubby humpback whale.
It also was significantly more than the 36 tons collected after last year’s famed shindig, which drew packed crowds despite the rainy weather.
Still, this year’s disgusting tonnage is relatively small potatoes compared to the decade-high 65 tons scooped up after the 2023 parade. An average of 62 annual tons were collected in the years before.
“In addition to the usual confetti and shredded paper, a cold sunny day like [Thursday] also means a lot of coffee cups, doughnut boxes and extra layers of clothing that marchers leave behind,” a rep for the Sanitation Department told The Post.
“Last year, on the other hand, was cold and rainy, so while the crowds were much smaller, we picked up a lot of heavy wet ponchos.”
This year, 38 street-sweeping vehicles and 29 collection trucks roamed the roads as the Sanitation Department put on a parade of its own after the event to quickly snatch up the unwelcome holiday leftovers.
Nearly five dozen Sanitation workers also were on hand armed with hand brooms and backpack blowers to pick up even the smallest pieces of confetti.
A total of 188 workers were on the job to get the streets reopened within 90 minutes after the event.
Central Park West — where the parade kicks off — reopened at 12:20 p.m.
There were 34 balloons, four mini-balloons, 28 floats, 33 clown groups and 11 marching bands flooding Big Apple streets for the annual party.
More than 3.5 million people in New York City and 50 million-plus viewers at home typically watch the parade.
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