Boxing Day tsunami victim creates new business

A commerce graduate from Griffith University, who was forced to abandon his studies after his home country of Sri Lanka was hit by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, has created a cleaning machine using macadamia nut shells that can remove graffiti. Nuwan Kumarasiri created his Spick and Span Commercial Property Maintenance business after researching machines and markets when he was studying cleaning with “green” materials.

His business now uses a German machine that originally used silica and glass to clean products, but adapted it to use macadamia nut shells and patented the idea.

“It cleans graffiti or any surface. It can remove lacquer or paint and has zero dust, zero chemical and doesn’t use water.”

Kumarasiri also was the first person to bring a highly efficient steam cleaner into Australia, cutting normal water use from 20 litres a minute to two. He now operates a business called Kershki, which is the exclusive distributor of the device in Australia.