Clean streets, dirty conscience?

by Ian Doyle

Ask residents what’s important to them in their local environment and clean streets will always be one of the first things they mention. Litter, in all its unpleasant forms, has the power to dramatically affect perceptions of environmental quality and reduce residents’ pride of place, and there is evidence that it has detrimental effects in terms of property values, mental health, and crime. Therefore, it’s not surprising that clean streets are given high value.

With this is in mind, one might expect to find this reflected in the value we place on those who work to keep our streets clean; that they would be carefully recruited and rewarded accordingly. This, however, could not be further from the truth. In fact, the job is generally regarded as the last one anyone could possibly wish to do, so much so that many a reluctant schoolchild has been warned: ‘if you don’t study, you’ll end up as a street cleaner’. There is, then, a massive disconnect between the way we think about the importance of clean streets and the way we think about those who clean them.

Esteem cleaners

Street cleaners are expected to work outdoors, in all weather conditions, dealing with particularly unpleasant, difficult and sometimes dangerous matter, such as dog poo, human vomit, and used hypodermic needles. Despite the demands of the role, it is one of the lowest paid on the job market, and certainly in environmental services: according to the National Careers Service, the pay for a street cleaner is between £12,000 and £16,000 a year. Within environmental services, street cleansing is seen as the poor relation of refuse and recycling collection. Promotion for a street cleansing operative typically means moving to work on a refuse or recycling collection crew, or more rarely into a supervisory and later a management role; although the fact that the job is seen as low skilled means that many doing it may lack the skills, or perhaps even the literacy, needed for a job in management.

Consider the position of the street cleaner in terms of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The job may provide enough money to satisfy one’s most basic physiological and safety needs – although cleaners no doubt often put their health at risk in the course of their work – but is unlikely to support people to reach the upper tiers of esteem and self-actualisation.

Despite the low pay and lack of prospects there are many excellent, dedicated street cleaners who work hard in difficult conditions to deliver an important service. The lack of due respect and reward seems to me a serious violation of social justice. The street cleaner has been a lowly character in the public imagination for far too long, and it is about time we recognised the contradictions and unfairness in this and tried to tackle the problems of how to make these workers feel valued and how to bring the general public to realise their importance.

Antiquated public perceptions of street cleaners need not be etched in stone. Image by J.T. Smith, courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.

Brushing up on skills

Both the public and private sector have begun to address the problem through schemes which reward the efforts of cleaners singled out by their communities or employers as making a particularly noteworthy contribution. For example, in the City of London the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners presents a certificate and cash prize for Outstanding Sweeper of the Year. Such awards demonstrate to staff that their contribution is being noted and appreciated, and offer the possibility of achieving a degree of prestige within the role.

Government and industry have also made some headway in addressing the need for skill development and career progression. Training has been offered by way of regular ‘toolbox talks’ in which staff receive short presentations on important aspects of the job, and feedback forums have been created to establish a dialogue with employers. There has also been a drive to ensure that cleansing staff are provided with good quality, clean and effective equipment and clothing. Qualifications demonstrating competency in street cleansing are now available through the NVQ system, with waste industry awarding body WAMITAB having developed assessment units relating to such aspects of the job as vehicle operation, dealing with hazardous waste and working as part of a team.

Function room

While these initiatives can help to make staff feel more valued and engender a sense of pride they still fail to address the key area of pay, which I suspect is key to altering public perceptions. Most environmental service providers are tied into pay scales in which cleansing sits firmly near the bottom. If the pay of street scene staff were to reflect the importance attached to the service they provide then I suspect they would be much better financially rewarded than at present. However, given the state of public sector finances and the need for private sector contractors to deliver at competitive prices, it is extremely difficult to see any organisation having the ability or desire to change the pay scales when roles can be filled at current salaries.

Perhaps what is needed is a change in the way that some street scene roles are defined. Multi-functional roles are becoming ever more common, especially within white collar areas. There is a clear opportunity for environmental services teams to embrace this development in working patterns and deploy it creatively within both front line delivery and its support functions. Street scene staff represent a potentially huge number of ‘eyes on the street’, who with a little extra training, support and belief could incorporate a range of other activities in their role. That might include reporting of environmental crime issues (flyposting, littering, graffiti etc.), or even taking enforcement action when required. They could also report on maintenance issues such as highway defects and other highway enforcement issues such as A-board violations. Doing this would help to widen the job’s skill base, increasing its associated worth.

There is a real opportunity to improve both the lives of street cleaners and the performance of street level service delivery – while saving money – by implementing the kind of rationalisation of functions which has already taken place in managerial and supervisory functions. With such a change of approach, it would be both realistic and desirable to turn the job of street cleansing, which matters so much to residents, into a role that pays better, attracts more respect and that more people might want to do.

Ian Doyle