ULEZ-ready hi-tech pavement washer joins Islington’s fight against grime

The borough’s new Aquazura pavement washer simultaneously wets, soaps and scrubs dirty pavements and recovers and recycles the waste water. It is the first of its kind in the UK to meet low emission standards, ready for the introduction of the Mayor of London’s ULEZ on April 8.

The ULEZ aims to cut emissions from road transport vehicles that are damaging the health of  Londoners. To help cut emissions and pollution, Islington is looking at new fuel options for its fleet, including a fleet of new electric vans for the council’s Pest Control service.

The new Aquazura washer was put through its paces today as Islington’s annual spring clean campaign – this year part of the Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean Campaign – gets underway, with extra deep-cleansing and litter picks to get the borough looking its best.

Last week Islington celebrated the borough scooping Keep Britain Tidy’s prestigious national award for “Outstanding Service Delivery” thanks to the hard work of its 86 sweepers, each assigned to their own “beat” of local streets.

Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “We all want our streets to be clean, and we’ve now added one of the newest pavement cleaners to our fleet to help keep pavements clean and meet the ULEZ standards.

“This machine, the first of its kind in the country, will travel many miles across the borough each year to scrub, hose and cleanse our streets, which are some of the most heavily-used in Britain.

“Alongside the dedication and hard work of the borough’s street cleaners, who each clean a ‘beat’ of streets with barrows at least five times a week, this vehicle will help to make a real difference to our borough.”

The Aquazura machine joins other pavement-cleaning machine and equipment that can remove heavily stained dirt and grime from pavements, and remove litter and debris from main roads.

All the borough’s fleet vehicles are also being fitted with in-cab digital devices, so reports from residents can instantly and more easily be passed to the Council’s cleaning crews who are already out on the streets, and dirt, grime and mess can be cleaned more quickly.

Islington’s Spring Clean Campaign runs through March and into April.  For more information, to volunteer and get involved see www.islington.gov.uk/springclean or email chris.demetriou@islington.gov.uk