April 29, 2014 (BALTIMORE, MD) — The first four weeks of Baltimore’s Citywide Mechanical Street Sweeping program produced 401.1 tons of pollutants being taken off City streets and disposed of responsibly, instead of degrading neighborhoods and spoiling urban waterways.

The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW), Bureau of Solid Waste, collected 190 tons the first two weeks of the program, and just over 211 tons the second two weeks. As many as 25 sweepers at a time ran a combined 2,851 miles on the four service days, often over streets that may never have seen a mechanical sweeper.

“That’s 400 tons of litter, broken glass, vehicle fluids, bacteria and other pollutants that have been removed from our neighborhood streets and kept out of our waterways,” said Rudolph S. Chow, P.E., director of the DPW.

“As happy as I am to know that we safely removed so much pollution, I hope those numbers come down quickly and stay low,” Chow added. “That way we’ll know the people who live, work, and play in Baltimore are working together to keep our entire city clean.”

Street sweeping is a twice-weekly event in many of Baltimore’s Central neighborhoods. But the expanded Citywide Mechanical Street Sweeping program, launched April 2, operates in four quadrants so that all neighborhoods receive the valuable service.

Neighborhoods in Baltimore’s Northwest and Southeast quadrants are swept the first two Wednesdays of each month, odd sides on the first (odd numbered) Wednesday and even sides on the second (even numbered) Wednesday. On the next two Wednesdays sweepers are in the Northeast and Southwest quadrants; odd sides of the streets on the third (odd numbered) Wednesday and even sides on the fourth (even numbered) Wednesday.

Citywide street sweeping will not be conducted on Wednesday, April 30, as that is a fifth Wednesday. Operations will resume on May 7.

The DPW expanded the street sweeping program this month in order to make sure all parts of the City receive this important service.

DPW officials are already working to improve the program. Mechanical problems with the sweepers, unusually heavy or caked-on filth, and cars blocking the curbs are among the issues that kept the first month performance from being even better. The DPW is preparing temporary signs that residents can use to remind motorists to not block the curb on days the sweeper is scheduled to come through.

“We want to work as partners with our residents and visitors to Clean Up Baltimore,” said Chow.

Residents and visitors are urged to keep their cars from the sides of the street on their sweeping days in order to allow the machines to do as thorough a job as possible. The sweepers are in operation from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., though residents may return their cars to their spaces as soon as the sweeper has made its pass.