Newcastle Clean Team takes to bikes for clean-up

Jun 8 2010 by Amy Hunt, The Journal

A TEAM which keeps a city clean for businesses has gone green in a bid to beat congestion and cut pollution.

Newcastle’s business improvement district company, NE1, dispatches its rapid-response Clean Team to deal with litter, graffiti and other unsightly problems affecting firms in the city.

The aim is to add to the street cleaning provided by the city council and give a speedy service.

The team is now using pedal power to get around the city more quickly and in a more environmentally-friendly fashion.

Workers are using two bikes with trailers to get around with their cleaning kit, which they hope will cut their travelling time, while dodging congestion and parking problems.

With the new cycle response teams, the service has expanded by 25%.

The Clean Team aims to respond immediately to calls from city centre businesses to deal with litter, graffiti or other hygiene issues.

The idea for the bikes came about because NE1 wanting to avoid extending its fleet of vans in a bid to cut fuel use and CO2 emissions.

Journeys of less than five miles or less, which account for most of the trips taken by the team, are the least efficient for motor vehicles, as cold engines use almost twice as much fuel as warm ones and some catalytic converters can take five miles to become effective.

Previously, the team has responded to call outs either on foot, or in a van.

In future, a van will only be deployed where more heavy-duty equipment is needed to tackle the problem. Adrian Waddell, operations manager at NE1, said: “It’s the Clean Team’s role to deal with all manner of things businesses would rather not have to tackle, be it litter, graffiti or other more unsavoury problems that affect the streets of all major cities.