Nobody, they point out, complained about the three to four tons of trash they carted away.

CNN: POSTCARDS FROM THE BEACH

About 2, 000 tons of trash are currently taken to the landfill from the park each year, according to the conservancy, while about 60 tons are recycled.

WSJ: Trash Talk in New York City's Central Park

Seven years later and with the help of an international team of like-minded climbers, eight tons of trash -- much of it with Japanese labels -- have been removed, including more than 400 discarded oxygen containers.

CNN: Ken Noguchi: Scaling environmental heights

L. Doctorow's new novel, "Homer and Langely, " offers fictional insight into the reclusive Collyer brothers, found dead in their Fifth Avenue mansion in 1947 amid 130 tons of trash, including 14 pianos, 25, 000 books, decades worth of newspapers and the chassis of a Model T Ford.

WSJ: Compulsive Hoarding Affects up to 2% of the Population