MAD VAC takes a bite out of grime

October 2, 1996
Web posted at: 4:40 p.m. EDT

ATLANTA (CNN) -- It looks like a golf cart, it operates like a video game, and it gobbles up garbage.

It's MAD VAC -- the latest tool in the war against grime. (11 sec./512K QuickTime movie)

The compact, one-person vehicle is manufactured by C.B.C. Municipal Equipment in Quebec, Canada. The city of Atlanta bought eight of the rubbish-eaters just before the Olympics, and plans to buy four more.

"We appear to be one of the pioneers," says Cedric Maddox, director of the city's Sanitation Services Department.

Cities around the world use MAC VAC to clean up everything from parks to parking lots, airports, shopping centers and neighborhoods. The machine works like vacuum cleaner -- its robotic, hydraulic-powered hose makes a clean sweep even in tight spaces.

"It's designed to operate in very close places," says Maddox.

Maddox explains that while most cleaning equipment is designed to be used after business hours, MAD VAC is small enough to operate with people around.

Its operators say it is powerful and effective.

"It makes the city cleaner," says driver Linda Kirkland. "You know it's able to get in and out of the side streets."

And as for comparing it with a video game -- the machine is actually operated with a joy stick. Driver Roderick James says that operators get better the more they "play."

James has been driving a MAD VAC for about four months. He says the compact cleaner can pack in 1.3 cubic yards of trash -- the equivalent of three or four garbage cans.

And there are no bags to change in this vacuum cleaner.

"When it gets full, it (stops) picking up," Kirkland says.

The pint-sized picker-upper works on just about everything from glass and cans to paper. At $55,000 per unit, it's pricey -- but productive.

"We can cover with that machine during the day about three times what a person would be able to do," says Maddox.

And it's got a lot of pull with people who use it -- Kirkland says that she wishes she had one at home.

In waste-land, MAD VAC is on a roll -- a driving force in litter control.

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