Brussels is sending an army of street cleaners armed with high-pressure steam cleaners to blitz the dirt, stickers and grafitti from its benches, signs and other street furniture.
The 10-day effort is a pilot for a new approach to city cleaning; if successful it will be repeated several times a year, and might be taken over by city employees; the first round is being done under contract by a private company.
A city spokesperson explained that “This is the very first time such a large-scale water-cleaning operation of all urban street furniture in the city centre has taken place. We are talking about all the benches people sit on, traffic signs, large bins, smart bins, kiosks, bicycle racks and bicycle boxes.”
“We have noticed that simply sweeping or removing dirt is not enough,” he said. “Steam cleaning is a very effective technique for removing tags and stickers, which is why the City has invested in new steam-cleaning machines.”
