Piscataway, NJ • The Parks Department of Green Bay, WI has found a new way to get tough on graffiti, without damaging the underlying surfaces in the process. Starting this year, Green Bay is using crushed glass grit purchased from Kramer Industries to remove graffiti from select surfaces throughout the city. According to Green Bay officials, concrete block, asphalt and sheet metal are among the surfaces now targeted for graffiti removal with crushed glass grit.
Dan Ladinois, Maintenance and Equipment Supervisor for Green Bay, said the city had tried black jack slag for these surfaces. “Slag was too aggressive. We needed a less abrasive media,” said Ladinois, who has been an employee of the Green Bay for 30 years, and has held his current post for 17 years. “I did some research and chose to give Kramer’s crushed glass grit a try. So far my field personnel are very pleased with how it’s working.”
Crushed glass grit is manufactured from 100% recycled bottle glass. Although abrasive enough to offer aggressive surface profiling and removal of a variety of coatings, glass grit is inert, contains no free silica, and is non-toxic.
According to Steven Schneider, Sales Manager of Kramer Industries, “The angular particles in crushed glass grit allow for aggressive surface profiling and removal of coatings such as epoxy, paint, alkyds, vinyl, polyurea, coal tar and elastomers. It delivers a very low particle embedment, which produces a whiter, cleaner finish relative to slag abrasives. In fact, it was recently added to the US Navy’s Qualified Products List.”
Schneider also noted that glass grit is lighter weight than many slags, allowing for increased consumption efficiency and production time. “Some of our customers tell us they use anywhere from 30% to 50% less grit with our glass.”
Besides cleaning up graffiti, there are a few other reasons why the use of crushed glass benefits the world around us according to environmentalists. Not only does it lighten the load of discarded glass going into our land fills every day, but crushed glass grit is free of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, asbestos, beryllium, and titanium; all typically found in coal and mineral slags.
Located in Piscataway NJ, Kramer Industries was founded by Harry Kramer in 1911, when he started a small manufacturing business in the basement of his home. Today the company offers a full range of dry blasting media for cleaning, stripping, peening, etching, finishing and deflashing operations. The Kramer line of equipment includes barrel finishing, abrasive blasting, vibratory finishing and parts separating machines. The company has also become a resource for cleaning professionals in dozens of industries, offering advice to customers around the world on a daily basis.