A council drive to tidy up the borough’s streets this week introduced new specialist vacuum cleaners that collect litter more efficiently.
On Monday council contractors doing their daily rounds began using the eight new vacuums to remove litter from streets and pavements in Croydon town centre, Broad Green and Norbury. The vacuums are more efficient and versatile than brushes and barrows, and even collect waste stuck between kerbs and parked cars.
The council will roll out another 17 later this year, with New Addington in early autumn and Coulsdon, Thornton Heath and Waddon the next likely areas.
Launched under the council’s Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign, the new vacuums are part of a £1.3m council investment in better street cleaning equipment, waste collection vehicles and solar-powered bins. This includes new sweepers with a large hopper so contractors can clean roads for longer without needing to empty them at the depot.
Croydon Council is also investing in three narrow 3.5-tonne cage tippers to clean hard-to-reach areas such as housing sites, narrow alleyways and fly-tips, as well as two new refuse collection vehicles to collect orange waste bags.
Last year the council introduced solar-powered BigBelly bins, which can take eight times the volume of a standard street bin by using an automatic compactor to squash the rubbish.
“Keeping our borough cleaner and tidier is one of the council’s priorities, and these street vacuums are yet another example of our significant investment in making this happen. I look forward to them making a positive difference to our residents’ local areas.”
Councillor Stuart Collins, deputy leader – Clean Green Croydon
