Sweeping statement
Clean streets are about a lot more than looking nice – they can save lives, prevent disease and give cities a real sense of civic pride too.
There are good reasons local governments in urban areas implement road flushing and street sweeping programs. They are necessary in keeping the roads safe for drivers and pedestrians. They also make the streets look clean adding to the delightful appearance of your city. On top of keeping your roads clean for aesthetic purposes, road flushing and street sweeping also prevent particulates from reaching the natural bodies of water and from being released into the air causing health problems and other issues for the residents of the city.
Road flushing and street cleaning services are important in urban areas because of these benefits and more. During last winter’s unusually heavy snowfall, for example, a lot of dirt, salt, grit and debris was left on roads as the settled snow melted. This is not only unsightly, but potentially dangerous. Dirty roads can compromise the safety of drivers and pedestrians alike, but with an effective flushing and cleaning programme in place, roads can be kept safe for drivers and residents.
In the early days of street sweeping, the machines used in the process were simply mechanical brooms that made street cleaning easier. The main purpose of street cleaning then was just to make the roads look clean. There were no studies yet regarding the quality of air and how road flushing and cleaning affect it. People also didn’t worry about the dirt from the roads reaching surface water. Over the years, the technologies and the processes of road flushing and street cleaning have greatly improved. Technological innovations and improvements to equipment have reflected an increased belief in the importance of street sweeping, and more recently environmental concerns have also focused changes in design and practice. Modern road flushing and street cleaning machines emit less dust and noise. The machines we use in modern road flushing and road sweeping are more environmentallyfriendly than ever before – after all, if the machines are not environmentally-friendly, what is the use of sweeping and flushing the streets? The streets may look clean but if the machines are not environmentallyfriendly then they are simply putting more dirt and pollutants on the road and in the air.
Keeping the streets of the UK’s biggest cities clean, safe and pleasant for residents is a 24/7 operation, and its practitioners can often be founding working late into the night while the rest of us sleep, but it is also important that citizens themselves play their part in keeping our cities clean and tidy. Recent changes in the law mean litter droppers can be hit with on the spot fines of up to £100, and this is certainly one way to remind citizens of their civic duty.
In another extreme example, as part of its ongoing programme to clean up the city’s streets, which began in 2004, Manchester City Council suspended street cleaning for 24 hours as a way of shaming litter bugs into realising how messy they are. The scheme would seem to have had some success as in 2005 Manchester became the first city ever to win a Britain in Bloom discretionary award for its exceptionally high standard of cleanliness. Manchester councillor Paul Murphy commented at the time: “Litter droppers are a minority, but this has helped to stigmatise them. We want to make it so that eventually people will scream at them and tell them to pick their litter up. There is a huge amount of footfall in Manchester city centre, probably second only to London, so when we withdrew the street cleaners there was a massive difference immediately. It looked a real mess, but it brought home to people the effect that dropping litter has.
When the citizens take an active role in the welfare of their city, it is always in a better position than if it just relies on the local authority to solve every problem, and it is also crucial for businesses and industries to implement best practice, especially if they handle particulate materials that could
cause road dusts and other fugitive dusts.
For supermarkets, shopping centres and other businesses that make use of parking spaces, it is also important to have a company do parking lot sweeping and cleaning not just to keep the parking area clean but to prevent the dirt and debris from reaching surface water, clogging storm drains and cause other environmental issues.
