From lost weight to ex-boyfriends, like Mike, New Yorkers gathered in Time Square to say goodbye to their bad memories of 2011. 　　Some pieces of paper represented a former home... Others contained reminders of health problems. And of course, there were money worries....and affairs of the heart. 　　All of them were thrown into this giant garbage bin and shredded. Robert Santoriella brought along a bucket and a sledgehammer. His now-healthy 10-year-old son needed the bucket on the long car journeys home, following chemotherapy...but not anymore. 　　Robert Santoriella: "That was the puke bucket that we used to have to use when we were heading home on the Deegan. We don't need it anymore." Some travelled far to get here. Like Katie Selman from Tampa, Florida. 　　Katie Selman:"I am shredding military orders for my brother who returned from Iraq in April and also for my husband who was deployed in the Middle East as well." As the bad memories of the past 12 months　were lifted into the shredding truck, it opened the way for a fresh start to 2012. (Elly Park/Reuters)