By BEN CAMERON
TRIALS of a new anti-graffiti coating designed to easily remove all tagging from the Cardinia Shire has proven to be a success.
The council began road testing the Haymes coating on community infrastructure in graffiti hot spots in Pakenham and Cockatoo last August, where the majority of money was being spent on removal.
If successful, the council would call on government support in rolling it out shire-wide.
Central Ward councillor Jodie Owen said surfaces had not been affected when tagging had been removed.
“I was jumping around with excitement,” she said.
“The little bit that was there I wiped off with my hand.
“The trial up in the hills here is working.
“It’s the same in Pakenham, there’s no tagging, and when there is it’s been easily removed, so it’s all good news.”
Findings will eventually be brought back to council.
“We will do a cost analysis to work out whether applying this product to several surfaces across the shire will save residents money,” she said.
“We need to know that using this product will save money for the shire, as we are sadly spending large amounts on cleaning up assets throughout the shire which are targeted.”
Cr Owen said in August that the council would try all kinds of new methods in an attempt to reduce large amounts of ratepayers’ money being spent on tagging clean-up.
“It is my opinion that being pro-active we can save ratepayers and tax payers money, whereby if we simply continue to be reactive, we will continue chasing our tails,” she said.
“The product is a coating which when applied, will make tagging easier to remove and not damage the surface in the process.
“It is a Haymes product … every other product we have looked at costs around $20 to $30 per square metre and is usually US-based, whereby Haymes is just over $7 per square metre.
“It is an Australian product which is currently used by Ballarat City Council. So instead of chasing our tails, the belief is, if the trial is successful, we will be looking at using it to not only reduce tagging, but also save surfaces from shadowing and other damage which comes with removing it.”
She encouraged the community to report all tagging with photos.
