When maintaining pavements, roads and public spaces, maintenance workers encounter weeds growing in the cracks between paving stones, kerbstones etc. These plants tend to be highly resistant to attempts at removal; they cannot be removed merely by pulling, scraping or cutting them out.

Ostrava has now begun using a new, eco-friendly method of weed removal – simply using hot water. The municipal district of Slezská Ostrava was the first in the Moravian-Silesian Region to purchase a machine which uses hot water to destroy weeds without any need for chemical agents.