A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

Chewing Gums, originally uploaded by hkdigit.

IMAGES: Chewing Gum Action Group

While our friends in the Chewing Gum Action Group in Britain are gearing up for the 2009 campaign, we thought we might include a couple of their gum wraps/posters from last year’s campaign that are part of the group’s most creative and ongoing efforts to address the challenges of discarded gum throughout the villages and on the streets of the UK (we’ve reported on their efforts elsewhere in this blog).

As their site notes, the group was established with the following goals:

The Chewing Gum Action Group (CGAG) is a joint initiative for local authorities aiming to change the behaviour of gum-droppers through local campaigns.

This website introduces CGAG and explains how we are making this behaviour change happen, as well as giving you the opportunity to get involved with the campaign.

You can see more of their campaigns and read about their worthy efforts, including some of their initial plans for the 2009 campaign by clicking here.

Mosuo Women like Chewing Gums, originally uploaded by Nowi-in-China.

chewing gum bokeh, originally uploaded by Yaisog Bonegnasher.

PHOTO: Trevor Ashby, Barnoldswick

Yesterday’s The Citizen, from Burnley, UK, reported that the Pendle Borough Council has spent 450.2 hours removing gum from streets in Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Barnoldswick (you can see one of the bus shelters that been the object of cleaning efforts in Barnoldswick, part of a nice page of photos of the town by Trevor Ashby), Barrowford and Earby.

The article noted that a request through the Freedom of Information Act showed that the Council’s efforts since May 2006 have represented nearly three months of work to remove gum from the streets and town centres of the villages listed above.

John David, leader of the Borough Council, suggests that the effort is worth it, but also frustrating given the time, money and prevalence of available litter bins and the £75 [US$110] fine for disposing of gum on the streets:

Councillor John David, leader of Pendle Council, said: “We do have a problem with gum in Pendle and we take a lot of time and effort scraping it off our pavements.

“No-one wants to get gum on their shoes and it looks a mess on our pavements too.

“People need to remember that gum counts as litter.

“They risk having to pay a £75 fine for dropping it.

“What they need to do is use a litter bin – and we provide plenty of those.”

Spiked, originally uploaded by cmbellman.

Special thanks to Anders Adermark who graciously offered his permission to use this great image of his; you can see more of his amazing photographs on his Flickr photostream.

chewing gum foil crane, originally uploaded by !TYZA!!.

PHOTO: The Straits Times

While Jackie Chan’s recent comments on political control of the Chinese have gained him a certain level of notoriety (see this Opinion piece from the New York Times for an in-depth review of those comments), he also took on the gum chewing policies of Singapore in the same speech, as reported in The Straits Times this past weekend.

The newspaper noted that Chan suggested the following about gum and Singaporeans during the speech:

…he also lashed out at Singaporeans’ lack of social graces, The New Paper reported on Saturday. “Sometimes, I wonder why I can’t eat chewing gum in Singapore. Then, I think it’s actually right not to eat chewing gum,” he was reported as having said.

“If I let you eat chewing gum, those people will leave them on tables and chairs. They have no self-respect at all.”