In an effort to clean up our dirty reputation, Philadelphia announced that they’ll resume a street sweeping pilot on August 9th. The Streets Department phase two pilot will target 14 neighborhoods that were identified as high concentrations of litter from the Litter Index.
Phase one of the pilot cleaned 1189 blocks regularly and picked up over 1.9 million pounds of trash and litter, according to the Streets Department.
This time, the street sweeping program will include mechanical sweeping (trucks), sidewalk litter, trash removal, and trash compactor removal. The program’s goal is to reduce litter on streets, as well as trash from entering water systems.
Tools used will be mechanical brooms (large and small), sidewalk sweepers, push brooms, and trash compactors used to remove illegally dumped materials, and on occasion. Some of the streets will use the controversial “backpack”/leaf blowers, despite critics mentioning the dirt and pollutants of these machines. Residents will need to move vehicles on some routes, alternating dates and times to make it easier for residents.
The pilot will launch in four areas on August 9th:
After the initial pilot, street sweeping in ten additional areas will be rolled out.
Cover photo: City of Philadelphia
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