Pollution in big cities is an important topic nowadays. That is why in today’s post we will talk about the contamination of sweeping machines.
A sweeping machine is a machine for road cleaning services in the cities, which collects waste from public roads.
With that statement, it seems that it is clear that it does a cleaning service of the waste generated in the streets, and therefore, eliminates pollution of the city, or at least it seems like that at first sight.
But do sweeping machines clean the streets without polluting? The answer is no. Sweepers pollute (and there are many), and they do it in several ways:
- Many move thanks to a diesel engine. An engine that consumes diesel, and emits pollutants from combustion into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (greenhouse), suspended particles and the fearsome nitrogen oxides. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the exhaust gases of diesel engines as a carcinogen (which causes cancer).
It must be said that there are manufacturers who have opted to introduce sweepers with electric motors, such as ECOs, some of the Tennant Green Machine among others. - They emit noise. The noise comes from two sources.
- The friction of the sweeper brushes while sweeping. All brushes make noise, from the metal rod brush to the coated cable brush (although there are those who sell it as silent, it also generates noise pollution), passing through the mixed brush, spare parts brush or fiber only.
- The sweeper’s own diesel engine, its hydraulic pump, and moving parts generate noise.
- The theoretical affirmation of the principle of this text, that the sweeper eliminates the contamination of the streets is not entirely true, since it simply “makes the waste not visible”. It moves them from the streets of the cities to the landfill, incinerator or urban waste treatment plant, according to the waste management system of each site. (Moving the problem but not eliminating it)
Therefore, the conclusion is that there is a paradox that sweepers pollute (and there are many) to keep the city clean.
