NATCHEZ — Paper cups, candy wrappers and leaves — just a few pieces of trash missing since the city bought a new street sweeper.

Since his department acquired the machine early in May, they’ve had phone calls thanking them and asking them to clean certain streets, Public Works Director Eric Smith said.

One impressed Natchez resident said, “It looked like a crew of four or five men with brooms and shovels cleaned the street,” Smith said.

While the old machine swept a lot of dirt and debris to the side, the new one uses a vacuum to clean the streets, he said.

“It has side brooms to kick dust up underneath and vacuums like a home vacuum cleaner,” Smith said.

Right now, the operator is cleaning the city’s main thoroughfares and taking requests from residents. Soon, after the operator gets a feel for the machine, he’ll establish a routine route, Smith said.

Smith said he had some pretty impressive responses on the sweeper.

“We even had a tourist stop us one day and say the streets looked different from the day before,” Smith said. “The machine is doing a super job.”

The $125,000 piece of equipment, paid for with city money, is well worth it, he said. It should need few repairs, since the vacuum system means a minimum number of moving parts compared to the 1993 sweeper it replaced.

“With the old one, everything was chain-sprocketed and hydraulic-driven,” Smith said.

Another perk is that it has equipment to clean gutters and drains, he said. Previously, three men would have to clean out a drain clogged with debris.

Smith emphasized that the new street sweeper isn’t just for downtown.

“The machine will service all parts of the city,” he said. “We’re going to get every street in Natchez looking like people came through with a broom and dustpan. The plan is to get the whole city looking great.”