Street Sweeping Keeps our City Clean

Did you know that street sweeping not only keeps our streets looking good but it also keeps waste and debris out of our storm water system and keeps our community safe?

Our street sweeping trucks drive by your street approximately every five weeks to keep the gutters clean. This not only keeps our streets looking clean and tidy it also helps protect our environment by removing leaf litter and debris before they enter the stormwater system. It also reduces the chance of flooding in the event of heavy rain and importantly clean streets ensure our roads are safe for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

Each year Council collects on average 1,300 tonnes of waste from our streets. Two street sweepers cover approximately 900 kilometres across the City every five weeks. Council also runs seasonal programs as required when there is increased leaf and berry fall. During seasonal programs an extra sweeper and staff member using a hand blower to clear footpaths and verges is introduced to sweep 115 kilometres of roads every two weeks.

At times impacts from weather can slow us down. Recently the extremely hot weather resulted in a dramatic increase in trees dropping their leaves slowing our sweepers down.

Our sweepers also have to stop to spread materials that have been placed into piles. While we appreciate the efforts of residents to pile leaf litter our street sweepers cannot pick up these piles. Leaving the leaf litter spread in the gutter helps keep our sweepers moving.

Our street sweeping programs are seasonally adjusted to effectively manage the level of risk in streets where issues are present generally relating to street tree litter.

Read more about our Street Sweeping Program in April's edition of Mitcham Community News.

Details about our seasonal programs - Autumn Leaf program, White Cedar program and Summer Leaf program between January are available below.

Autumn Leaf

The Autumn Leaf street sweeping program focuses on streets lined with deciduous trees.

Leaf matter on roads and footpaths are blown and swept on a fortnightly basis for a ten week period, typically between the months of April to June.

White Cedar

The White Cedar street sweeping program focuses on streets lined with trees that drop an excessive amount of berries.

Roads and footpaths are blown and swept on a fortnightly basis for an eight week period, typically between mid-September and mid-October.

The White Cedar Berry Program will begin on the 8^th of October starting around Mitcham High School.

Summer Leaf

The Summer Leaf street sweeping program focuses on streets lined with trees that have been identified as producing excessive leaf fall.

Leaf matter on roads and footpaths are blown and swept on a fortnightly basis for a ten week period, typically between the months of December to February.

Better Street Sweeping for Mitcham

The City of Mitcham has completed a major review of our street sweeping service and improvements are underway. We are investing more in street sweeping. In July 2017 we purchased our own street sweeper so we can respond faster to requests from our residents. This new sweeper sweeps over 19 kilometres each day on a 5 week cycle and collects over 15 tonnes in the hopper from our streets each day. We also have renegotiated our street sweeping contract to provide greater visibility of which streets they are sweeping by using GPS tracking, as well as increasing the amount of street sweeping to better address seasonal leaf and berry drop. What does this mean for you? You will have cleaner streets especially during autumn and after storms. Not only will we have clean streets we will also have a better environment because street sweeping prevents tonnes of organic material being washed into our waterways.