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The Effects Of Street Sweeping To The Environment And Community

Conserving natural resources does not happen only when you recycle things or when you save a tree or body of water, it can also happen in things like using earth friendly products. Or, it can occur even in simple tasks such as the city's street sweeping project.

Many are not aware, but street sweeping does more than clean your streets. Yes, it is known that street sweeping vehicles flush and remove sand or debris off the street during spring. But clean streets go a long way in conserving natural resources and keeping the community a safe place to live in.

If you are from the Greater Toronto Area, you will notice that most street sweeping vehicles are Regenerative Air Street Sweepers. In Hamilton, Ontario, these types of vehicles have been enforced after a study made on how they reduce harmful inhalable particulates in the air surrounding the streets.

Therefore, these vehicles do not just ordinarily clean streets. They also have the following specific environment conserving effects:

They reduce metal particles and other toxic wastes left behind by passing cars or any other vehicles. Aside from being air pollutants, these particles can make their way into bodies of water after they go through the sewage system. Once they do, they can affect both human and living organisms such as fish that thrive in these bodies of water. Drinking water will be unsafe and the level of toxins in fish will elevate.

Street sweeping vehicles reduces the level of PM10 (particulate matter at 10 micrometers) in the air. PM10 is one of the identified air pollutants which can come from the combustion of fuel in vehicles or from dust carried by trucks from construction sites. These types of particles cannot be filtered by our nose. So when inhaled, they go directly to the lungs and may cause a host of respiratory problems.

In one of the cities of Ontario, the use of the best technology-Regenerative Air Street Sweepers and the frequency of street sweeping have been proven to reduce the generation of inhalable pollutants to an estimated 35%.

Clogs in storm sewers and drainage systems are avoided. Once leaves, papers and other debris make their way to sewers, they can act as clogs. This can result to water accumulation or flooding in streets. And when this happens, bacteria can form especially if it is not addressed at the soonest possible time. This can have a twofold effect: the community will be exposed to bacteria and bodies of water will be contaminated once clogs are removed and dirty water goes through.

Proper waste disposal. Street sweeping tasks done in the Greater Toronto Area are accompanied by proper waste disposal efforts. They not only remove street wastes, they also make sure the wastes are dealt with properly.

During spring, most of the collected waste and debris from streets are made up of sand and dirt. After collection, dirt is filtered of garbage and is made available for use in land filling for City projects and private constructions in GTA. Garbage on the other hand, is passed on to the waste management sectors.

Street sweeping has become one of the most effective resource conservation tasks. You can also participate in this task by keeping your vehicles off the street during scheduled street sweeping and flushing days, picking up litter on your street and having your trees pruned when they reach lower than 13 feet above the street.

Seed Newsvine

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