Street cleaning: history of a recent practice

When the media show us the image of a street overrun with waste, our natural reaction is we get annoyed.
The idea of a dirty city doesn’t leave us indifferent and there are even those who make the sidewalks cleaning an indicator of good governance: if the dirt spreads on the streets then something on the high places doesn’t work. But has it always been like this?

Street cleaning in the West is a fairly recent fact: a conquest of the 1900s, which grew at the same pace with the environmental awareness of the 1970s, when governments began to show concern for the quality of our waterways.

Which benefits can street sweeping bring to your community?

A well-cleaned street is certainly an excellent business card for every municipality.
However today the sweeping service increasingly tends to achieve objectives that go beyond simple urban decor.
With the cleaning of public roads it’s important to guarantee citizens suitable hygiene conditions of the environment in which they live.
Street sweeping offers a number of benefits, some of which are cosmetic, some of which are environmental and some of which are social. Let’s discuss those benefits together:

• Health

We do know how is important the overall health of a community, city or municipality. From the water we drink to the food we eat, and the air we breathe, health is one of the main components of defining a local community.

What kind of material can be swept by a street sweeper machine?

• • • Hazardous materials: such as soil, sediment, sand, and eroded rock from the weathering of bricks, concrete, and asphalt from pavement and structures. This material is carried by surface runoff, wind, vehicle trackout from construction sites, unpaved roads, and pavement abrasion from vehicular traffic.
    • Vegetation.
    • Industrial emissions.
    • Litter.

• Safety

Another benefit of street sweeping is the value of improving safety in the neighborhoods of every community. In particular we shouldn’t overlooked:

• • • Public safety: it should always be a primary concern for all residents as well as those traveling through or visiting a community. The removal of roadside  debris reduces the vehicle accidents rate and improves driver safety.

• • • Pedestrians, runners and cyclists: construction and roadway debris can cause unsightly conditions as well as objects and items to leak into streets or paved paths. If not swept routinely, these items can become hurdles for pedestrians, runners, and cyclists to avoid which may lead to accidents and injuries.

• Preservation

When thinking of street sweeping, it’s often thought about in the short-term; however, when looked at through a different lens, street sweeping plays an important part in preserving the environment around us for years to come.

• • • Pavement protection: at the end of the day, street sweeping is about protecting and preserving what we have now for the future. Establishing a routine sweeping schedule in your community will help remove wearing debris and extend the life paved roads and paths.
    • Wildlife preservation: street sweeping helps eliminate the number of plastics and litter that end up on the sides of roads and ends up harming local wildlife.
    • Environment: commonly unknown, but a critical benefit of street sweeping stems from the removal of harmful metals and pollutants that can enter our air emissions. By reducing the amount of road debris, street sweeping is helping to preserve our local rivers, beaches, and air.

• Appereance

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of street sweeping is that it improves the aesthetic of your streets. By removing trash, stains, debris and broken asphalt, a street sweeper allows a street to look cleaner and more attractive.
In contrast, a street which is never swept will collect trash and residue. Nobody wants to look at something unpleasant, even if it’s just a street. Regular street sweeping can improve the aesthetic of an entire neighborhood.

How is a street sweeper made and how it works?

A street sweeper is a cleaning machine used to keep the roads and drains clear.

Itala 135 mini street sweeper is equipped with two frontal brushes that convey the waste to the center of the machine. The conveyed waste by the frontal brushes is collected by the central brush and thrown inside the hopper.

The street sweeper ITALA 135 is the electric waste vacuum cleaner by TSM which stands out for having ZERO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.
It doesn’t produce CO2 emissions and thanks to its powerful filtering system, fine particles remain trapped and are not released into the environment during the sweeping tasks. All functions are electric therefore the noise emissions are reduced only to the noise of the brushes on the ground, off ering the possibility to work at any time of day or night. The advantages of ITALA 135 are related to its high productivity. The mechanical system allows to collect even voluminous materials, which combined with the suction system with water spray on the front brushes allows a total reduction of fi ne particles.

Why choose a street sweeper?

The cleaning of sidewalks and pedestrian areas is one of the most important activities for urban centres because it restores decorum and order, and above all guarantees safety and wellbeing to citizens.
As these spaces evolve, the tools used to obtain effective results must also evolve. The time has come to abandon broom and dustpan!
Street sweepers are particularly effective and allow you to collect all kinds of waste, be it light, such as paper, or heavy, such as bottles. It isn’t  necessary to temporarily accumulate waste somewhere and then transport it elsewhere at a later time.
It should be noted that street sweepers are designed in such a way as to clean urban spaces without damaging them.

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