Sweeper trucks are a common sight on city streets nowadays, and they are a great tool for picking up litter, stones, and other debris that build up next to curbs and in busy intersections. But they have actually been around for far longer than you might realize. In fact, the first street sweeper was patented by C.S. Bishop all the way back in 1849. The ones that sweeping services use today might not look anything like their predecessors, however, since their design has been tweaked and refined for years. As a result, they are generally able to clean streets and parking lots efficiently so that drivers and pedestrians alike don’t have to maneuver around piles of junk.
In addition to making roads and parking lots more comfortable for consumers, municipalities and businesses should invest in sweeping services to help reduce pollution. Though problems like pot holes and poor road quality might get the priority, runoff from roads and highways can pull contaminants like heavy metals and pesticides into water sources. The same could be said for parking lots. Because of that, local governments and property owners would be wise to utilize road sweeping services that help reduce pollution.
Perhaps surprisingly, pollution from parking lots is actually quite expensive. According to a University of California Transportation Center report, Americans have to spend up to $20 billion a year on health and environmental damages that stem from parking lot use. The cost per space ranges between $6 and $23. You could make the argument that those numbers are just another reason why people should choose to walk, bike, or use public transportation, but parking lots are costly in more ways than one.
From a business perspective, owners should work with parking lot sweeping companies to make sure that potential customers and clients always feel comfortable arriving at a store or office. While eliminating pollution is important, owners and managers also need to think about the bottom line, and if utilizing contract sweeping services will help improve sales numbers, then making that investment is wise. It might be hard to imagine a parking lot having a negative impact on a business, but if it is dirty and full of litter, it certainly can.
It can be annoying, if not damaging, to hear a bunch of stones hit your car as you drive down the road, and seeing old garbage on the curb is always gross. Fortunately, there are dependable street and parking lot cleaning services who pick it up to help make sure city streets and parking lots aren’t polluting the environment or hurting businesses.