The Regional Director for Public Works and Communications stated today that the application of thermal weeding to control the growth of vegetation on the roadsides and footways in urban areas "is one of the viable solutions to complement the mechanical means already used and a gradual alternative to the use of herbicides in rural areas."
Frederico Sousa spoke in Furnas on the island of São Miguel after observing the application of this technique. With the use of thermal weeding, he pointed out that the Regional Government "is adopting a more environmentally sustainable solution for weed control, which contributes to landscape integration of the regional road network and of the surrounding areas."
Thermal weeding is a weed control technique through the direct application of water vapour that causes the destruction of plant cells at elevated temperatures, being an environmentally sustainable method.
Frederico Sousa stressed that measures such as this one and others, namely the reuse of grass cuttings residues through mechanical means, will contribute to greater sustainability and to the preservation of the environment.
The Regional Directorate for Public Works and Communications is currently monitoring the effectiveness of this solution in order to plan the extension of its application, especially in urban areas.