For the last three decades, Charlie Lusco has been leading the post-Mardi Gras cleanup of the French Quarter and Canal Street for the City of New Orleans.
It’s never an easy task. Each year, Lusco, a Senior Vice President at KBS, and his janitorial crew members remove an average of 150 tons of garbage – beads, plastic cups, bottles, food, and more beads – over the 14-day period leading up to and through Fat Tuesday, which was Feb. 13.
“I can’t imagine a bigger cleanup than after Mardi Gras,” Lusco says. “There is so much trash and debris hauled away each day, it’s incredible."
Lusco is the former president of Empire Services, a Metairie, L.A.-based janitorial company that KBS acquired in 2017. Lusco has a long history of supporting the local community, including helping the city clean up after both Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Lusco loves overseeing the cleanup of Mardi Gras and has it down to a science: His crews start at 4 a.m. and work around the clock, cleaning up after daily parades and non-stop partying. His cleaning arsenal includes roughly 200 team members per day, as well as a mechanized army of garbage haulers, street sweepers, pressure washers, garbage trucks, deodorizing agents, and more.
Below are pictures of this year’s cleanup in the French Quarter and on Canal Street.
Before
During
After
“It’s a great feeling to see the streets fresh and clean,” Lusco says. “It looks like there was never a party at all.”
If you’re looking for a facility service partner with deep experience in cleaning services for large events, KBS can help. Contact us to find out more.
