The territory management company "Mano aplinka" informs about the start of the spring season. The vacuum machines owned by the company have already gone to the streets of the capital, which will collect the sand spilled by road users and janitors from the roadsides during the winter. The entire force of janitors is working on the streets, because "Mano aplinka" alone has spread twice as much sand and salt mixture during this busy winter season than last year.
The janitors started sweeping the sand from the sidewalks in mid-February, when the long-lasting layer of snow melted. Heavy transport has already started to bite the workers. Based on the practice of previous years, "Mano aplinka" collects 5-6 times more sand in the spring than it releases during the winter season. This is because the amount of sand dumped by road workers during the winter also accumulates on the roadsides. This year, the company initiated sand collection earlier than usual.
Last year, the company collected about 7000 m³ of sand, so this year it should be collected twice as much or even more. "We worked very intensively during the winter - we took into account all the contractors' comments and mobilized all the workers and technical forces. We sprinkled the sand and salt mixture sparingly, because the conditions for pedestrians were extremely difficult. Now is the time to remove that sand from the streets of Vilnius. We will do this no less intensively," said Diana Lubė, head of the Territorial Cleaning Unit of "Mano militės".
Sand becomes an unpleasant phenomenon in the spring - we carry it home with our shoes, sandstorms arise in the streets. According to D. Lubė, the remaining sand is saved by motorized equipment during sweeping. However, a large part of the work for the janitors has to be done manually. Brooms, brushes and shovels are used for this. Without them, it is impossible to collect sand from stairs, around stops and other areas of uneven pavement. "In order to work as optimally as possible, the pavement is first cleaned by a rider or a smaller motorized sweeper. Then, the section is manually swept again by the janitors, and the sand is collected from the roadsides by a special transport - sand-sucking vacuum machines", explained the representative of "Mano militsa".
This season, four "Mano militsa" vacuum machines will work. At the beginning of the season, they will go to the streets around the clock, just to finish the work earlier. "Mano aplinka" points out that a special car cleanly collects sand from the roadsides after 4-5 trips, so the work will take time.
Sand must be removed from maintained areas by the end of spring. Area cleaners hope that the weather conditions will be favorable for the work.
