How often have you had a piece of gum stuck to your shoe, silently (or in my case quite verbally) wishing one or more of the seven plagues onto the inconsiderate idiots who are too lazy to walk to a rubbish bin yet manage to effortlessly scale the most unlikely obstacles with single-minded ruminant determination to ruin your favorite shoes/pants/dress with their saliva ridden piece of chewed gum!
Mr. Kat Snyman of Ilanga Mall testing our bubblegum removal formulations
Find me a public space without a piece of gum stuck to something and you’ll most likely also spot a pot of gold, a rainbow and Unicorns grazing in fields of Four Leaf Clover.
On a very serious note though, have you ever considered the economical aspects of this sticky problem?
The extent of the expenditure worldwide just to remove chewing gum annually is astronomical. For example, in the past year, more than 150 million pounds (1.9 Billion Rand!) were spent on the removal of bubblegum in the UK alone.
What makes bubblegum removal so expensive is that it literally has to be removed using a high pressure water jet or must be scraped off certain surfaces with putty knives and in the case of high pressure water jets, often the removal process will erode the surface that the gum was stuck to.
So why is bubblegum such a problem? Firstly, most chewing gum contains polymers (building blocks of plastic) that are inert, which is great for chew-ability and structure, but not so good for the bio-degradability of the product. Secondly, chewing gum is sticky and this makes removal of the product notoriously difficult.
Not all is doom and gloom though – there are several companies overseas that have develop processes where the recycled chewing gum can be turned into molding plastics with a variety of commercial applications.
Over the past two years, we at Convertech have also been looking into several methods that will assist with the removal of gum as well as ways that gum can be destroyed entirely if the need exists.
Based on our research, we have successfully developed a product that softens and then dissolves gum, and when combined with one of our proprietary detergents, makes cleaning up this sticky mess much easier than any of the more traditional methods.
We have also developed a hydrolysis protocol whereby the gum can be permanently liquefied and is also sterilized (ever stopped to consider that the salvia-drenched piece of gum can contain germs …) during the process. This is especially useful for manufacturers that want to destroy non-sellable products or factory waste.
So if you ever need a customized solution for this sticky problem, give us a shout and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Till next time then
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- Our trial consisted of several types of sweets including a well known brand of chewing gum
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- The paper wrappers are all that’s left of the bubblegum
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- Hydrolyzed bubblegum mixture poured through a sieve
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- Fully Hydrolyzed Bubblegum
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- Mr. Kat Snyman of Ilanga Mall testing our bubblegum removal formulations
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I find myself coming back to your web-site only because you have lots of awesome insights and also you happen to be at this a while, which is very impressive and tells me you know your stuff.
Hi Piet thanks for this product it really works and made my life easier the removal is not so time consuming as what it was. The nice thing about the product is that it also removes the `oil` mark that the gum leaves on paved areas.
Thank you for the positive feedback Kat!
I need this! Work at a holiday resort and the bubblegum cleaning drives me crazy!! It is a time consuming job with no end!
Baie insiggewend
the insect-residue is like bubble-gum…i always joked that insects eat bubble-gum…thats why i immediately thought about it
Hi, Piet . Just as difficult to get the insects off the front of your car, where your bumper,number-plate and lights are…It doesnt come off easily…Maybe your product will work for that too.
MMmmhh – never thought about it, but you’re absolutely right – It should remove that as well.
Thanks for the comment!
Hi Piet, thank you for your reply and information. Also for doing such a great initiative, you will surely bear the fruit, with all of us included things can only get better. I will surely give you a call. Enjoy your day.
Ive once read that by chewing bubblegum, it causes ulsers. The reason for this being, that because you keep on swallowing saliva, your stomach thinks food is on its way and the acids are being released to digest the food. No food going to tummy, acid burns tummy.
Great comment! I’ve heard the same thing from several sources
Impressive!!! Thanks.
Hi Piet, i am familiar with porcelain restoration and would like to know more about your ‘production solution’ and whether this might damage the object to which it is adhered to, e.g. porcelain, glass, artifacts. Will your ‘product solution’ also be able to remove other adhesives, e.g. pretley putty without damaging the object.
Hi Jeanette,
You’ve got me there – I don’t know if it can be applied to such delicate surfaces without removing more than just the gum. It should – in theory – target only the pollutant, but I am unsure as to how it will affect delicate paints, gold foils etc.
Whether it will be effective in softening the resins in Pratley Putty, I really have no idea although knowing Pratley putty the way I do, I have my doubts if anything but a hammer and chisel will do the job
Why don’t you give me a buzz sometime and we’ll arrange for a small sample of the product to be mailed to you for testing purposes should you wish to experiment a little.
True, bubblegum is bad news, so unethical when someone chews that in your presence, gross.
This is a first for me and very exciting.I’m amazed by what you can do.
Thank you for very interesting.
I also find it interesting
I find Convertech Biological Conversion Technology very interesting. Thank you so much for all the valuable information.
Thank you Lin, we appreciate your feedback!