Zero Gum â

Home

 

 

 

Chewing Gum deposits on street pavements

It is estimated that there are more than 26 million gum chewers in the UK, chewing their way through more than 3 Billion packs of gum per year.  World-wide Local Authorities, Property Management Companies, etc., with areas contaminated with this unsightly problem are now actively looking for a successful method of attacking and resolved this major problem.

Having recognized that this was a World-wide problem an extensive Market Research operation was set up to examine the various methods that had been tried to solve the problem.

Existing cleaning methods have failed or are not adequate for a number of different reasons, such as:-

Scraping

This method is only partially effective on very shiny surfaces.  On outside surfaces, because the material is rough, (i.e. concrete, cobble lock, paving slabs, etc.), the gum gets stuck into the surface and will not be removed with scraping.  It does not work.

Freezing Machines

This system will remove a lot of the top surface gum deposit, but has a number of problems:

It is very noisy as it uses a strong compressor

It damages the floor surface as it works on a very high pressure to break up the Gum deposits

It leaves a mark on the floor surface

It does not remove the oily stain which gets in the top layer of the floor surface

The particles, that get broken off with the force of the machine, get blasted across the road.  If these hit people it could cause an insurance problem

The machine works by using Dry Ice which is very expensive

The Dry Ice must be stored in a Cold Box, it then has to be transported to top up the machine as required which causes logistic problems

The system is very expensive to operate

Chemicals

Chemicals have their own particular problems.

They will not remove the Gum, only soften it, so other methods still have to be used with Chemicals

Chemicals are expensive

Chemicals can be Toxic and have offensive smells

Operators do not like using harmful chemicals

They can stain or discolour the brickwork, floor surfaces, etc

They cannot be washed down the Drains so have to be vacuumed up and disposed of properly

Pressure Washers

These fall into the following three categories listed below, which are, Cold, Hot and Steam, all operate in the same basic system.  They take in water, on a continuous basis, and force it out under pressure through a jetting system.  They all use huge amounts of water, a minimum of 4 gallons per minute, which is approx 250 gallons per hour which is a minimum of 2000 gallons in a normal eight hour day.  Many systems use far more than this.  All work on high pressure, approx 3000 PSI which causes damage to grouting, floor surfaces, etc., and even gets to the bedding sand under paving slabs and causes them to lift.  This means even if they remove the gum they have cased more expense in repairing the damage done in the process.  Also surrounding buildings, etc., can suffer from spray and stain damage.  Furthermore, they will not remove all the gum deposits.

Cold Water Machines.  These have all the above problems and remove no gum at all

Hot Water Pressure Machines.  These will loosen and remove the top surface of some gum deposits but still leave the oily stain behind.  The problem left is that the sticky stain will take the dirt off shoes walking on it and then turn black, so you are left with an oily dirty stain mark instead of gum deposits

Steam Pressure Washer Machines.  These are really a hotter version of the hot machine.  They actually produce a stream of boiling water, which has steam coming from it, which removes a bit more gum.  It still does not remove all the deposits and still leaves the oily stain.  It works at approx 100C - 130C

Using the above methods, some companies offer to repair/replace grouting, but this practise is frowned on by Insurance Companies as it is classed as an admission of causing potential damage, thus insurance is void.

All these systems use a large amount of water, which cause a considerable mess and pedestrian disruption.       

Press here for the solution

 

landscape installation organic gardening fabric hammock Living Room Fine Art
Want Your Link Here?

 

For Further Information and Free Advice Contact:  Jim Yule

Telephone:    +44(0)1829 741309

Fax:               +44(0)1829 741309

Postal address:  Zerogum, 7 By-pass Road, Tarvin, Chester, CH3 8EF
 
Electronic mail
General Information: info@zerogum.org.uk
Webmaster: tony@programpause.co.uk

Home

Send mail to tony@programpause.co.uk  with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © Zerogum
Last modified: January 03, 2006