GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Nearly a month after spring sprung, Grand Rapids street sweepers, along with the volunteer group, Adopt-A-Highway, have taken to the roads and highways to clean the curbs and collect trash, with the city's new focus on curbing carbon emissions.
“It’s our job to help keep the city clean,” Grand Rapids Public Works Manager Robert Swain said.
FOX 17 learned, during a recent ride along with Swain, that this year, the city has added two electric street sweepers to its fleet with the hopes of cutting down carbon emissions.
A grant the city received a few years ago from the state of Michigan paid for the two new sweepers.
“We’re looking to change vehicles and get rid of the ones that use diesel fuel,” said Swain. “Each one of these vehicles will remove 25 metric tons of [carbon dioxide] emissions."
“In addition to that, [the new electric sweepers] run much more quietly than the traditional sweepers, so that’ll be great in neighborhoods because some people complain that they’re too loud," explained Swain.
Swain adds the hope is for the city to replace all its sweepers with electric vehicles, but that will depend on whether or not more grant opportunities will be made available.
“Electric is more expensive to operate,” Swain said. “The investment in them is definitely worth it, though.”
While the city sweeper vehicles are doing their job, civic-minded volunteers from the program Adopt-A-Highway are also out collecting trash.
“We come out three times a year,” said AAH volunteer, Betsy Kimberlin. “We see a lot of debris, as well as parts of cars that are left behind from accidents that happened during the winter months.”
Kimberlin says she’s been volunteering to help clean every April, July, and September since 2020. Betsy adopted a portion of M-44 in 2020, after tragically loosing her son, an army veteran, in 2010.
“They give you a week to do it and you get to pick which week you want," added Kimberlin. “It’s very rewarding because we travel the roads all the time and like to see them clean. MDOT is really good about giving [volunteers] everything they need to do this, including bags, a vest to wear and complete safety instructions.”
According to Adopt-A-Highway, volunteers collect more than 60,000 bags of trash from Michigan roadsides every year. 2024 pickup dates are as follows:
- Spring: April 13- 21 (Lower Peninsula), May 18- 26 (Upper Peninsula)
- Summer: July 13- 21 (Statewide)
- Fall: September 21- 29 (Statewide)
If you're interested in volunteering for Adopt-A-Highway, click here for more information.
