The mammoth task of cleaning up after the Spring Racing Carnival

CRAIG LOVETT has been cleaning up after the Spring Racing Carnival for 30 years. He’s unearthed some memorable items in that time.

CLEANING UP after a party doesn’t bring joy to many people. But Craig Lovett has built a successful career around picking up after revellers.

For 30 years he and his brother Paul have been managing the clean-up for some of the world’s biggest sporting events. They have been tasked with tidying up after the Nascar in the US, Formula One Grand Prix races around the globe, the Grand Slam tennis events as well as the last seven Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

This week their company Incognitus will be spearheading the clean-up campaign for the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne. And despite all the international events they’ve managed, Craig says Derby Day and Melbourne Cup are the two biggest days they tackle.

Last year they removed waste created by 313,229 people over the four days of the carnival at Flemington.

Clean-up time at the end of the Melbourne Cup in 2000.

More than 750 people are employed to get the racecourse get back on its feet, with Derby Day on the Saturday posing the biggest challenge.

“We take more waste out of Derby Day than the other three days combined”, he says.

He believes this is because people have the following day off work, so they tend to really let their hair down.

Craig Lovett has 30 years of experience cleaning up after some of the world’s biggest events.

On Derby Day he estimates his team clears 250 tonnes of rubbish and on Cup Day it’s about 150 tonnes. The bulk of the rubbish is bottles, cans and beer cups, but he points out that 90 per cent of what they clear out is recyclable.

“Flemington is big with sustainability,” he says, pointing out that their environmental efforts have won them numerous awards.

“This year we’ve introduced some clever technology which is digestion technology for organic waste,” he says.

The Melbourne Cup clean-up begins in 2013.

But every year they unearth some surprising things among the debris and the seagulls.

“Sometimes we’ll find the odd person who has left themselves in a car park or a marquee,” he says.

They also discover “lots and lots” of underwear as well as “stacks” of shoes and hundreds of pairs of sunglasses.

“One year we found an entire suit — the shirt, tie, shoes, socks. I have no idea what happened to the guy”.

They also stumble upon some “interesting couples doing things they should be doing in private places”.

Two racegoers sleep on the lawn during the clean up at Flemington racecourse after the Melbourne Cup in 2002.

But the most memorable item was found a few years ago in the main betting ring.

“We found a bookie’s bag ... [it belonged to] a bookie who had had a few too many beers after the event,” he recalls.

“It was unlocked and had over $40,000 in it. He didn’t realise until the following day.

“He obviously crapped his pants and called the course. We had already handed it over the evening before. He gave our staff member $500.”

Hundreds of people are employed to remove the waste after a race meet.

The clean up costs in excess of $1.5 million for the Spring Racing Carnival, though Lovett points out that the cost is decreasing all the time.

“We’re finding new ways to handle things and developing better technology. We have reduced the cost over the last three years”.

Employees now pick up rubbish throughout the day ... partly because rubbish can blow onto the track and spook the horses.

When they first started cleaning up at Flemington they kicked off after the final race when “you’d walk onto the main lawn and it was 15cm deep with rubbish”. But as their brand grew they refined their practices and now he says the waste removal project started four months ago with detailed planning.

Carnage after the 2000 Melbourne Cup.

He says there’s an overnight shift before the race meet to make sure that everything is up to scratch, then on the day of the race meet they start at 6.30am. The clean up after the last race usually wraps up around 4am.

“On Wednesday morning [after the Cup] you wouldn’t know there had been a race there the day before,” he says with pride.

“I still pinch myself on the bum every Wednesday at sunrise when I see what has happened overnight”.