City of Melbourne is stepping up its city cleaning efforts with a 24/7 war on graffiti and mess.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp says a new contract that came into effect at the beginning of this month means there will be boots on the ground to hose off offensive graffiti 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We know the best deterrent to crack down on repeat offenders is to remove graffiti as soon as possible. That’s why we’re taking our services to the next level,” she said.

The five-year Clean City Services contract will be shared between integrated services provider Spotless, which will be responsible for street cleaning, and pressure cleaning specialist Calcorp, which is tasked with graffiti management.

It will see faster graffiti response times, with rapid response times cut to one hour, and pressure washing in targeted hotspots increased from five days a week to seven.

There will be daily cleaning of alcoves, doorways, ledges and parklets in the central city, and daily pressure washing in high usage areas and laneways to remove stains, graffiti and bodily waste.

Council is also adding 12 vehicles to its EV fleet to enable clean up crews to get to reported areas immediately.

The contract also includes tougher environmental targets for the new service with requirements to reduce emissions, increase the use of non-potable water and minimise landfill.

The cost to Council of appointing the two tenderers over ten years is estimated at $233.7 million over ten years, representing savings of more than $2.5 million over previous contracts, according to a management report from last November.

It comes as Council dramatically boosts its investment in city cleaning services, with almost $100 million spent in the last three years.

More than 112,000 square metres of graffiti were removed from Melbourne’s streets and laneways and 1,568 tonnes of dumped rubbish were collected over the last 12 months.