Are Street Flushing Contracts Scams?

Street flushing has been a practiced street sanitation task for a few years now in the Greater Toronto Area and it has its share of favorable environmental and community effects. However, it is not always to be used in all conditions of street cleaning since there are a lot of factors to be considered before this method can be considered beneficial.

During the initial spring time cleaning, debris and dirt are usually packed down on the street due to long months of being covered and frozen with snow. To remove them, either a high velocity air or a wash of water is required.

If your company or GTA community is being offered a street flushing contract during spring, it should be evaluated well so you avoid being scammed. Here are some of the indications that a street flushing contract may be a scam:

1. A street flushing contract is a scam when water is not needed to clean streets. This method entails washing out the street with water and not just spraying. Thus, a large quantity of water will be needed. And considering the area of streets scheduled to be cleaned, street flushing requires gallons and gallons of water. So instead of cleaning streets, this method will just result to wasting natural resources and going against city/municipality policies. Cities in Ontario are regulating street cleaning practices so that they have a high overall environmental performance, not just in sanitation.

Street flushing does not really clean roads or the environment. All they do is hide litter and debris in rain water basins. And not only does it hide debris and litter, it causes pollution as well. Storm water eventually ends up in bodies of water so if they carry litter with them, they spread pollution as well. So as long as there is no mention of sweeping or brushing in a street flushing contract, it is definitely a scam.

A contract may also be a scam if there is no clause indicating the cost of water: whether it is included in the contract cost or is an add-on cost depending on the amount used. Usually, these types of contracts already include the cost of water. If your company or community does not know how much a contract should cost, contact several companies for a quote and compare the contract offering cost.

4. A contract should be offered by a person who is a member or employee of the company who will deliver the services. Middlemen or agents are unnecessary in the cleaning industry and will just entail added commission costs. When in doubt about the personality of the individual offering the contract-always ask for identification. At the same time, investigate the legality of the company he/she is representing. Certifications and licenses are needed from cleaning companies to operate in the Greater Toronto Area.

5. A street flushing contract is a scam when flusher and brusher trucks or vehicles are not used in the actual cleaning process. This type of cleaning task is most effective only when the latest technology is used. And the latest technologies are vehicle mounted brushers which use both water and high velocity air to effectively clean streets.

So are street flushing contract offerings scams? The answer actually depends on the necessity of using water. This method does not really clean streets unless a street sweeping vehicle is used along with it. However, it is an effective method of removing packed-down debris and dirt.

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