Thanks to Fort Worth residents, the city’s dozen new street sweepers now have names.
Throughout the naming contest, the city received 1,300 name submissions. Residents were encouraged to submit up to three suggestions. An online vote was held for the top 50 contenders chosen by residents.
Now, Fort Worth residents can expect to see these winning names displayed on the side of sweepers as they clean streets across the city:
- Sweep in the Heart of Texas
- Lightning McClean
- Obi Wan Cleanobi
- Sir Sweeps-A-Lot
- Cowtown Clean Machine
- Lone Star Sweeper
- Sweepasaurus Rex
- Baby Got Vac
- Funkytown Fresh
- Big Molly
- Sweep Caroline
- Bob
The city unveiled its new fleet in September following a yearlong waiting period. The vehicles were purchased in spring 2023 for $3.5 million in an effort to expand litter cleanup resources. That same year, Fort Worth raised its monthly environmental fee from 50 cents to $1.50 per month for residents, the first fee increase in 26 years, according to previous Report coverage.
Resident concerns about litter have been on the rise since 2019, according to community surveys conducted by the city. This led to the establishment of the environmental services department in 2023, which expanded litter pickup services to highways along with other projects, including the now-paused Trinity River trash wheel.
Having replaced Fort Worth’s first two sweepers, the new vehicles are designed to help reach Fort Worth’s goal of maintaining a clean and attractive city, Environmental Services Director Cody Whittenburg said in September. The trucks are equipped with a large steel-bristle broom, a vacuum cleaner and tiny water hoses to help settle dust.
The “hopper,” the vehicle’s storage tank, collects up to 2,000 pounds of trash before being disposed of. Every 10 curb miles, operators stop cleaning and dump the trash collected by the vehicle at a waste facility.
The sweepers will run regular routes through the city’s most littered neighborhoods, with a goal of cleaning about 6,380 street miles per month. The city’s original sweepers cleaned about 580 miles per month, Code Compliance Director Brandon Bennett previously told the Report.
The street sweeper fleet is operated by 13 employees through four 10-hour shifts per week, according to Whittenburg.
Nicole Lopez is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.