Street Sweepers

I am well aware that this is somewhat (actually ver frivilous) frivolous, but it certainly seems to be a waste of resources to send out the town sweepers on recycling day, where there are emptied recycling containers strewn throughout the streets.

Agree, and to add that the street sweeper is on my busy street every single day, are the streets really that dirty?

My street in Maplewood was never swept in the 8 years I lived there. The "excuse" was that there were too many cars parked on the street (it was a short dead end street, and all the cars were residents' cars). The town would not put "no parking, street sweeping" signs, so the street was never cleaned.

High traffic areas often need regular sweeping. Many shopping centers usually contract out for weekly, and in some cases even daily, services. Meanwhile, office buildings will sometimes just contract for a once a year spring clean up sweep to pick up sand and other debris from the winter.

So if you are on a busy street, then it stands to reason that there will be more debris (fast food wrappers, soda bottles, papers, etc) left behind from passing cars, so extra sweeping would be warranted. Street sweeping isn't just for gravel.

As a totally off topic side note, if you go to the Turtle Back Zoo you will seen a repurposed main broom from a street sweeper installed in the bison exhibit.

emmie said:

Agree, and to add that the street sweeper is on my busy street every single day, are the streets really that dirty?

I never saw a street sweeper in my life until I moved here, although I head heard of them.

I do think that it is useful to be done occasionally (since we have the equipment anyway), but I certainly don't see them all that often. Are they really done EVERY week? I'm home a lot and this would surprise me.

Problem this time of year is leaves covering the sewer grates, blocking the flow of water from the roadway. When it rains, the leaves are swept downhill until they land in the grate. If they are not cleared promptly, the street is subject to flooding. I was very happy to see a sweeper pass in front of my house the other day, just prior to a projected rainfall. It saved me yet another trip with my rake to clear accumulated leaves.

It's not an issue of frequency or anything like that. It is merely goofy to do it on Mondays, when all the recycling containers are tossed haphazardly in the street. The sweepers do not move them out of the way, they just go around, negating their overall effectiveness.

I know this is a silly thing, but it peeves me to waste this kind of money.

there's also cardboard and plastic bags strewn in the streets from the people who are too cheap to buy a $15 recycling bin from home depot.

Your point ?????