That's what Gerard Gleeson does when he starts work at 4am as Warrnambool's official street sweeper.

Beer bottles, food containers and even dead birds, cats and possums are sucked up into his truck.

"We start with ankle-deep garbage and have it all gone within two hours," he told The Standard this week.

He knows just about every piece of kerbing and more than most about CBD waking hours and nightlife.

Occasionally residents complain about being woken by the noisy mobile vacuum cleaner and mechanical brooms but most appreciate waking up to clean gutters and streets.

In a few months the noise will be a little quieter when Warrnambool City Council buys a new sweeper truck to replace Mr Gleeson's tired workhorse.

Its MacDonald Johnston cleaner mechanism, fitted to a Hino truck, has clocked more than 14,000 hours of work - considerably more than expected when it was bought six years ago.

"It's been a fantastic machine but with Warrnambool growing in size it has done more work than planned," he said.

"We also use it on road works and for cleaning stormwater pits.

"The vacuum is strong enough to suck up a house brick.

"It is used seven days a week including 12 hours a day from Mondays to Fridays.

"When I'm not on duty it's driven by Louise Glennen who has been in the job for four years.

"The CBD is swept every day and suburbs on a rotating pattern."

The new sweeper will have a GPS and a more efficient cleaning system.

It will also have left-hand drive and flashing lights.