Tuesday, August 9 2005 12:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Imagine finding your expensive carpet full of blobs of chewing gum, plastered by pranksters and that trying to get off the messy stuff with chemical cleaners only ends in burning holes in your treasured family heirloom.

Relax and reach out to a canful of friendly bacteria, pour it on the sticky mess and watch them gobble up the gum for you, leaving behind a clean carpet, without a single woollen strand of the carpet harmed or the goofy stuff.

Welcome to the new world of bio-enzymatic cleaners! (BEC)

Bio-enzymatic cleaners, a new buzz word in India, are products containing friendly bacteria and enzymes that clean away grease, oil stains, slush, organic dirt, hidden away in toilets, sinks, drains, carpets, kitchens, laundry rooms, septic tanks and floors, simply by degrading them.

"There is a popular misconception that bacteria are only harmful. Many forget that we have a whole set of bacteria that are friendly and are involved in cleaning the environment. These bacteria are nature's own cleaners and are responsible for converting biodegradable waste back into their organic form," says J Lakhani, Director of Lemmens Shardlow (India) Pvt Limited, a company dealing in BECs.

The BEC products are nothing but application of this age-old scientific truth and using nature's own tested cleaning tools for consumer use, he said.

The BEC concept is highly popular in the West with several brands available and used widely in five star hotels, food chains, restaurants and industrial units. But in India the concept is brand new and is still being used on an experimental basis, said Lakhani.

With effects of harmful chemicals amply demonstrated worldwide, BECs make more sense because they not only are 100 per cent safe but also render no harm to the skin or to the material on which it is used nor does it lead to inhaling of any dangerous chemical odours or cause allergies.

BECs are extremely cost effective. Unlike chemical cleaners that have to be used in the same measurement everytime, the amount of BEC to be used decreases gradually.

"Remember that BEC's contain friendly bacteria which not only immediately gobble up the organic dirt but also continue to work even later. They continue to eat up the surrounding harmful particles and cleaning up the air naturally, leaving the space not only stain-free but healthy to live and breathe," says Mohan Gulkarni, consultant.

Lakhani's company has come up with 12 products under the brand name Biosolv catering to different needs.

While chemical cleaners only restrict to cleaning the surface, many a times the dirt still sits pretty in the ridges, pores and empty spaces between uneven surfaces. Your toilet tiles for example, might appear squeaky clean but within those spaces between the tiles, lies the dirt.

"BEC's bacteria not only clean the surface but also chase the dirt to the root cause and even cleans up those hidden in these inscrutable pores or spaces", he adds.