City of York Council is harnessing the latest cleaning technology to help keep the city looking its best.

A new suction sweeper has just hit the streets. Maneuvered by an operator walking behind it, the machine pulverises and compacts waste by two thirds, and is nimble enough to use on busy streets. While it might tackle extra waste following busy days in the city centre, equally it can suck up and squash autumn leaves, giving it year-round functionality.

To add to its cleaning armory, council staff are trialling a combined street washer and scrubber. This machine can wash but also scrub pavements and hard surfaces if stains are too engrained to be shifted by water jetting or sweeping. It absorbs waste water using a full width sponge which means that dirt and debris removed during cleaning don’t end up in the public drainage system but can be disposed of safely.

The scrubbing attachment can be changed in around a minute to turn the machine into a sweeper or a mower.

The council’s remote-controlled bank mower comes into its own when the Bar Wall embankments need cutting. The grass cutter has caterpillar-style wheels and will work on slopes of up to 45 degrees which would otherwise be very slow or potentially dangerous to mow. The remote control system is the only one on the market to have a two-way communication system. This makes it possible to get information on how steep the slope is as well as how efficiently the machine engine is working, from a range of up to 800 metres which means the operator does not have to clamber up the steep slopes to stay in range.