Cleaning porous pavement is becoming more and more a best management practice to control storm water runoff. The most effective way to clean this type of pavement is still with a Schwarze® Regenerative Air Sweeper.

• Pure vacuum sweepers – Only provide end-users the ability to clean an area up to 27 or 30 inches wide. This equates to only 33% of the total area swept by the sweeper, leaving 67% of that area that is not being cleaned. The remaining 67% of the area will require a transfer broom to mechanically transfer the material to the suction nozzle for pickup. The utilization of this broom has proven to create up to 60% PM10 particulates on the area being swept by the broom due to the broom agitation.

• Mechanical broom sweepers – The use of a mechanical-type broom sweeper does not effectively remove small particulates that present the problem prior to sweeping. Actually, the use of a mechanical broom, or transfer broom on porous pavement will cause further breakdown of particulates on the roadway, creating approximately 60% more particulates than previously encountered prior to sweeping.

• Regenerative air street sweepers – Allows for a complete cleaning of an area up to 90 inches wide utilizing a concentrated air blast that is the complete width of the sweeping head to clean deep into the pores of the pavement. Thus removing small particulates from the pavement and providing proper maintenance of the porous pavement. The use of a regenerative air sweeper has been proven and is endorsed by the EPA to be a key tool in a Best Management Practice Sweeping Program.

• On top of that – Schwarze® regenerative air sweepers with centrifugal dust separators remove particulates from the air during the cleaning process, which improves air quality and therefore the environment.