Armed With Beet Juice, Boulder Battles Sidewalk Gum: Report

BOULDER, CO — Beets are delicious. They're sweet enough to be used in dessert cakes, earthy enough to be used in gnocchi and purple enough to pickle eggs. But the miracle ingredient has other uses too. While you've probably heard of it being used to de-ice roads — most recently in Cedar Rapids, Iowa — Boulder has stumbled upon another use for the edible root: certifiable Dubble Bubble destroyer.

That's right. Chris Zachariasse, operations manager for the Downtown Boulder Partnership, told the Daily Camera heated beet juice sprayed onto gum using a Ghostbusters-looking vacuum and backpack machine helps the city remove gum off the sidewalks.

Empacs, an Aurora-based company that sells environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies, approached the organization with the idea, according to the report. A sales representative for the company told the newspaper beet juice is full of sugar, which helps break down gum. The beat juice solution is heated and mixed with chemicals found in toothpaste and soap. It takes seconds to blast away a single gum stain and save your sneakers from a sticky situation.

Click here to read the report.

Photo credit: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images