March 24th, 2003

Project 863 – China

The Chinese Government recently established project 863 to tackle the alarming rise in discarded chewing gum affecting their towns and cities. The problem was highlighted when nearly 600,000 blobs of discarded gum were left in Tian’anmen Square in just one week costing more than 1 million yuan (US $120,000) to remove.

When the BBC World Service programme East Asia Today decided to investigate possible solutions to this growing global issue they interviewed Rob Dixon, Managing Director of the UK based Go-Gum Limited.

Presenter Oliver Scott was keen to discover the effectiveness of the Go-Gum Enviraclean Machine. According to Rob Dixon “You can have a two person operation… with average coverage of approximately 50m2 per hour”.

While the Chinese are exploring various chemical solutions, with their obvious environmental, health and safety implications, Go-Gum is keen to draw attention to their non-abrasive, chemical free remedy. “The machine is cost effective to run, its engine is powered by propane with the only cleaning agent being water, which is delivered at variable temperatures and pressures tailored to suit the surface being treated”

The Go-Gum Enviraclean Machine’s primary use is for the removal of chewing gum and graffiti. The machine easily and quickly adapts to be used for a wide variety of deep cleaning activities on many exterior surfaces including those of buildings and monuments etc. It acts to remove other forms of pollution including fly posters, weeds, bird droppings, grime and oil. The Enviraclean Machine is also an extremely effective tool for the sometimes delicate process of stone and brick colour restoration.