A new £20,000 street cleaning machine has been rolled out in Richmondshire.
Officials say the Glutton machine picks up street waste and deep cleans, getting into even the smallest recesses that in the past have been hard to keep clean.
“This equipment makes it easier for our operatives to clean problem issues such as dog mess, pigeon droppings, litter, cigarette butts, leaves in leafing season, grease and encrusted dirt from pavements, litter and dog bins, bring bank sites and public toilets,” said Councillor Phillip Wicks.
“It brings with it significant time savings for staff – they can work more effectively, covering larger areas much faster than traditional methods. And that will bring with it more pride in our streets – if they are cleaner the public are less likely to litter them.”
The council’s waste team had been looking at ways to improve efficiency and quality of the street cleansing service as well as how to reduce the vehicle fuel and mileage travelled by operatives.
Vehicles have been used to move hand-held equipment such as blowers, vacuums, brushes and shovels around the district – but the new electric vacuum has all the equipment needed on board and therefore operatives simply need to park up and immediately begin to use the new machine.
“This machine is 100% electric, has 0% CO2 emissions, picks up all urban waste and cleans and disinfects all surfaces which helps to combat viruses, bacteria and fungi,” added Cllr Wicks.
“It can cope with the narrow streets, cobblestones and pathways across Richmondshire and will cut the amount of time manually collecting waste and litter, leaving us with a cleaner, greener district.”
Green Party councillor Kevin Foster said he was delighted to come across council workers using this rechargeable machine in Colburn.
He said: “This is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind in 2019 when I proposed that the council should declare a climate emergency.
“Everybody benefits from less noise and cleaner air – it’s totally win-win.
“There’s more to do because the vacuum cleaners are currently transported to site by a conventionally powered vehicle but it’s a very positive first step.”
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Can it clear snow off pavements which are more hazardous then litter?
I hope this what looks like a very useful new street cleaning machine will spend some time in Middleham every now and then around the nice old cobblestone areas etc in the town Main Street, cleaning the stable waste etc which blows around and spoile the nice look of this lovely old historic small town.
Then this will be money well spent.
sounds like a brilliant idea, I have noticed the pavements etc are looking very dirty, when I worked in a shop in Richmond we had to sweep the pavement outside the shop every day and keep the windows and paint work clean. We also cleared the snow. Perhaps if it is clean no one will drop litter or let their dogs foul. Nora