On the Road with Marco’s Street Sweeper

Every Monday, Mario Tamayo of Marco’s Public Works is on Collier Boulevard, Marco’s main thoroughfare, and according to Mario, “we try to clean up everything that happens throughout the weekend.” He shared that “for Tuesday, I will cover Lamplighter and a little bit into San Marco Road. I try to do the bike lanes, making it safe for the bike riders, and on Wednesday, I might clean Landmark.”

I caught up with Mario as he was driving the city’s street sweeper down South Barfield. Residents like myself are always curious on what a street sweeper actually does! It is also rainy season in Marco and just after a summer downpour, culverts and storm drains are filled with all kinds of washed-up debris such as leaves, litter, and everything that was left on a road surface.

According to Mario, each week he starts with a blank map of Marco’s streets, and once a street is swept, it is colored yellow. He keeps track of his activities through a Weekly Sweeper Clean-Up Log, which includes the weekly amount of debris collected in yards; clocking an average sweeping speed at three miles an hour; and the street miles swept in a week.

With the help of Mario from Public Works, here are some takeaways on how a street sweeper works.

Underneath the truck are three round brushes called gutter sweepers. They look like round giant steel hairbrushes.

First, water is sprayed onto the road surface to help loosen dirt/dust, which makes it easier for the brushes and vacuum to capture debris.

As the sweeper drives down the street, they spin really fast, loosen debris, and push it to the center of the sweeper.

The dirt/debris are sucked up and vacuumed into a big container or hopper on the back of the truck.

There is a magnet bar in front of the sweeper truck that picks up metals from the street.

The collected material will be emptied at a designated disposal site.

The reason we sweep our streets, according to John Lafakis of Public Works, is “our goal is to have each street swept once a month. Through our efforts to maintain MS4 Permit Compliance, as well as the cleanliness of Marco Island roadways, the Public Works Department removes many metric tons of debris from our roadways.”

In addition, “This debris removal not only contributes to the protection of our community’s health and safety but also adds to the safety of the many vehicles that traverse the city daily. Among the various forms of debris that are collected, nails and other dangerous materials are also removed that could otherwise pose a hazard to vehicles.”

Unless collected and swept from the roadways, these untreated discharges enter the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), including contaminants like oils, paints, pesticides, sewage, detergents, and various forms of solid and liquid waste. Marco’s street sweeping program reduces the amount of contaminants that flow into our stormwater drains.

Marco’s Public Works Department also provides stormwater protection and maintenance through the island’s storm drain systems. As the water from rain travels down our gutters they all drain into our waterways through a system of stormwater drains.

According to Lafakis, “Marco has 1,900 storm drains and it takes approximately three months to clean and maintain them all. Some of our storm drains have debris baskets (skimmers or catch basin filters) installed to maintain MS4 compliance.” With Mario sweeping the streets weekly and collecting tons of debris per month, the storm drains are also collecting additional materials before entering our waterways.

The next time you see a street sweeper, remember, it is working hard to keep our streets clean and safe by removing fine dust, toxic pollutants, and clearing our streets of litter and waste. Everything that sits on the roadway the street sweeper eventually intercepts before it moves further into our waterways.