Rio de Janeiro keeps Carnival clean with 745 garbage collectors, including the famous Sorriso

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — With Carnival now in full swing across Brazil, Rio de Janeiro is on its game to keep the city clean. Companhia de Limpeza Urbana do Rio de Janeiro (Urban Cleaning Company of Rio de Janeiro) has 745 garbage collectors working day and night, with 445 taking on the parade passageways of the Sambódromo and 300 in charge of cleaning the streets, according to Brazilian magazine Exame.

"We've divided all the Carnival blocks into four categories: special—which are the big blocks that bring out more than 50,000 people—big, medium and small, which also vary accoring to the quantity of revellers. Each of these operations has its own logistics," Municipal Secreaty of Conservation Carlos Roberto Osório told Exame.

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But keeping things clean isn't always serious work. Among the 745 garbage collectors making their way through the city during this year's Carnival celebrations is Renato Luiz Feliciano Lourenço, a.k.a. Sorriso (which means smile), the garbage collector who first danced samba while cleaning the Sambódromo between samba school parades in 1997, reported Brazilian news site Terra.

His fame had him traveling the world to give lectures and seminars on the formula for happiness, but Sorriso continued working at the job he's had for the past 16 years.

"Fame passes, but work and a job don't," he told Terra.