For the first time in over 25 years, a comprehensive, grant-funded national test of street sweeper performance took place the second week of July, marking a pivotal moment for the power sweeping industry. Designed and conducted by WSA’s Director, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, along with noted testing authority, Roger Sutherland, the testing process was administered by the City of Santa Barbara with NOAA/Sea Grant funding. The purpose of the testing initiative was to rigorously evaluate how effectively different sweeper technologies remove pollutants—including the increasingly scrutinized microplastics—from our roadways.
The test is important: The last national sweeper test, conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) more than two decades ago, is widely regarded as outdated and insufficient. Its broad certification standards failed to distinguish real performance differences, especially for fine particulate and microplastic removal. Many sweepers were labeled “PM-10 Certified” even if they left significant small-micron pollutants behind.
More recent studies in Minnesota and Florida have shown that street sweeping is a whopping five-to-seven-times less expensive than other methods for removing pavement-based pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus. Yet, these studies didn’t separate results by sweeper type, leaving a gap in actionable data for municipalities…