Upside to Rio's low-key New Year party: less trash

COVID-19 forced Rio de Janeiro to cancel its famed New Year's festivities this year, but there was an upside Friday for trash collectors and the environment at large: 89 percent less garbage on Copacabana beach.

Municipal waste collectors in Brazil's party capital picked up just 39 tonnes of litter from the iconic beach during and after its muted New Year's Eve, down from 351 tonnes last year, said the municipal sanitation service, COMLURB.