For over a decade, I have passionately argued for a shift away from mechanical broom sweepers in favor of air sweepers for general street cleaning. My conviction stems from a simple yet critical observation: broom sweepers struggle to pick up small particles, which are essential for mitigating stormwater pollution runoff. These small particles often harbor a disproportionately high percentage of pollutants, making their collection vital for maintaining clean waterways.

Despite this, city street sweeping managers have historically favored broom machines. The reasoning is straightforward: broom sweepers can tackle larger debris, such as tire casings and mufflers, which are too big to fit through the 12- or 14-inch tubes of regenerative air sweepers. While broom sweepers excel in highway settings – where the type of debris is more substantial and varied – their effectiveness diminishes on city streets, which typically feature curbs and gutters. In urban environments, sweeping is less about managing large debris and more about maintaining cleanliness and safety.

A recent study conducted by the City of Los Angeles has shed new light on this issue. The findings reveal a stark contrast in the debris pickup capabilities of broom sweepers versus air sweepers. The RegenX air sweeper not only collected more than twice the amount of material compared to its broom counterpart, but it also demonstrated a remarkable ability to capture small, polluted particles. In contrast, the broom sweeper's performance in this critical area was virtually nonexistent.

Imagine the potential if we were to enhance air sweepers with AI-affiliated camera systems. Such technology could pinpoint items that the air sweeper cannot collect, GPS-stamp their locations, and automatically notify the relevant departments for removal. Additionally, these camera systems could serve as vigilant eyes on the road, alerting officials to emerging potholes, low-hanging branches and downed signs.

Given the increasing urgency of managing stormwater pollution runoff, it is clear that air sweepers deserve a more significant share of the municipal street cleaning market. From a common-sense perspective, it makes logical sense to remove pollutants before they enter the runoff stream. Think of it in terms of household cleaning: If you want to eliminate the finest particles from your hardwood floor, wouldn't you choose a vacuum over a broom for a more thorough clean?

The recent findings from Los Angeles underscore the need for a reevaluation of our street cleaning practices. It's time to embrace the superior capabilities of air sweepers and prioritize the health of our urban environments.

If you want to become more educated about the value air sweeping offers in the field of pavement-based pollutant removal, along with hearing the latest ways to modernize your entire sweeping program, be sure to sign up for all three of the sweeping seminars that will be presented during this year's Stormwater Awareness Week. You'll find the info for doing so in one of this month's stories.

For sweeping contractors, this month we also offer two educational articles you will benefit from. One is on sweeper-mounted cameras and the other reminds about the pluses and minuses of subbing your sweeper routes to independent contractors.

Finally, we've added a new addition to our 'Sweeping is a Funny Business' category. Yet another surprising circumstance that happened to involve some aspect of sweeping!

As always, if you have questions and/or any news of potential interest to the power sweeping community, please let us know. Between this publication, the WorldSweeper.com website, and the World Sweeping Association, we'll be sure to get the information passed along to interested readers.

Good Sweeping,

Editor, WorldSweeper.com
Executive Director, World Sweeping Association
Member, PAVEMENT Hall of Fame

PS If you're a contractor I urge you to check out the many benefits of membership in the World Sweeping Association. Also, if you haven't 'liked' our WorldSweeper Facebook page, what are you waiting for? That's where we offer a variety of industry previews and updates on an ongoing basis.

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August Newsletter Contents
(Scroll down to read stories or click on links below.)

1. Los Angeles Controlled Testing Compares Pickup Ability of Regenerative Air and Mechanical Broom Sweepers
2. Dash – and Other – Cameras Offer Significant Value for Power Sweepers
3. Stormwater Awareness Week Features Three Sweeper-related Seminars
4. Using Independent Sweeping Contractors: Advantages and Pitfalls
5. Sweeping is a Funny Business: A Most Awkward First Day for a Street Sweeper

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Los Angeles Controlled Testing Compares Pickup Ability of Regenerative Air and Mechanical Broom Sweepers

In a controlled test designed to compare the pickup ability of regenerative air sweepers with broom machines, Elgin's RegenX was found to be more than twice as efficient at pollutant removal than the company's Broom Bear mechanical broom sweeper. The sweepers were chosen as representative of their two technologies. The overall study was funded by the Safe Clean Water Program (SCWP).

The primary goal was to evaluate the potential for increased pollutant removal and improved water quality by incorporating regenerative air sweepers into the City of Los Angeles fleet. Note: All testing was done without using water for dust suppression. The article information is from an interview with the principal from the City of LA and the person leading the study. The article catalogs the preliminary results from an early part of the study and will be published as part of the final report when it is completed.

Check out the article.

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Dash – and Other – Cameras Offer Significant Value for Power Sweepers

Camera-based technology – the term 'dash cams' is used in this article as a generalized term – can improve safety for power sweepers in several key ways. In fact, they are one of the best values that can be added to sweepers, since they offer proof of what has occurred; illustrate accountability; can assist with driver training; verify service completion; and, can even be used to identify infrastructure issues.

For this article WorldSweeper conducted a web review so as to provide information about the many ways that dash cameras – which also may be configured to show rear and/or 360-degree views around the sweeper – can be helpful when mounted onto a sweeper.

Check out the details.

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Stormwater Awareness Week Features Three Sweeper-Related Seminars

Last year the presentation on street sweeping by WorldSweeper's Editor, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, and noted sweeper researcher, Roger Sutherland, were among the top three most viewed at the entire event. This year's Stormwater Awareness event will feature new information from that duo, as well as presentations by two other noted sweeping organizations.

Street sweeping – done with high efficiency debris and pollutant removal in mind – has the ability to transform stormwater management capabilities. Learn how your municipal sweeping program can best be run to maximize benefit to your community as well as ways to minimize the disruption to citizens in your vehicle removal program. And, as a preview to what you'll learn, when it comes to making a difference in runoff pollutant removal the most important factors are using air sweepers and moving vehicles prior to sweeping.

Check out the three seminars for 2024 along with signup links that will work starting September 2nd.

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Using Independent Sweeping Contractors: Advantages and Pitfalls

In his role as Director of the World Sweeping Association, WorldSweeper's Editor, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, previously wrote an article for Pavement Magazine on the topic of when independent contractors are – and are not – generally a good idea to use in sweeping.

The ForConstructionPros website published the article last month. You may access it using the link below. Since they did so, and because of the importance of the topic, we are reprising the advantages/pitfalls on this topic via the 45-minute Zoomcast analysis Ranger did with Phil Duncan, principal of WSA's endorsed insurance organization, BindDesk.

Your opportunity to view the normally WSA member-only article is linked here; the Zoomcast discussion may be accessed via this link. BTW, if you are a sweeping contractor and haven't contacted Duncan's organization about your insurance needs, just click here to do so.

Check out the article located at the ForConstructionPros website.

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A Most Awkward First Day for a Street Sweeper

Through the many years of writing and compiling sweeping-related stories, one of the Editor's favorite areas has been the "It's a Funny Business" category of the WorldSweeper website. That area contains more than 50 funny and surprising stories and photos dedicated to the power sweeping industry.

The latest is a brief article about someone named Pu Li's first day on the job as a street sweeper, linked below. It's both surprising and funny.

Check out the 'funny' article.

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