Bratislava Buys Device Worth €7,000 for Graffiti Removal

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) – Bratislava city council on Thursday unveiled a new €7,000 device that was bought late last year for removing graffiti from buildings in the capital.

The device is able to remove up to 4 square metres of paint per hour, with the city planning to use it not only for cleaning its own structures, but it will also offer it to private entities.

“Using this machine, we’ll remove graffiti from our buildings, including primary arts schools, leisure time centres and historical buildings in the Old Town. There are dozens of buildings painted with graffiti, so I expect that it may take the whole year,” mayor Ivo Nesrovnal said at a press briefing. He added that an underpass on Dolnozemska Street near the University of Economics, the walls of the city theatre and other buildings on Klobucnicka Street and Venturska Street in the downtown have already been cleaned.

According to Miroslav Kacer, who operates the device, it’s able to remove graffiti from various surfaces, including marble, glass and wood. “It actually sandblasts the inscriptions. Depending on the surface, we select the material to be circulated in the device,” said Kacer.

The finest sandblasting materials used in the machine, which resembles a big hoover, are pulverised nutshells to make sure that delicate surfaces, such as glass and marble, aren’t scratched.

Kacer conceded that he’s seen graffiti reappearing on a wall that had already been cleaned. “Nevertheless, if we remove it two or three times, sprayers don’t return there anymore, as they see that there’s an effort to clean it up; and they’d like to have it on display for as long as possible,” added Kacer.