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

IMAGE: Gum-Out

The aptly named  Gum-Out, with its chewinggumremoval.com site (a mission statement in a website URL!), proposes to eliminate the somewhat ineffective methods of freezing, humble ice cubes and chemicals from the gum removal process. Instead, with syringes, spatulas and gloves, this new product aspires to consistently and effectively break “the bond between the chewing gum and the surface” (to which it’s stuck).

The British website for the company includes testimonials, ordering details (one kit is good for up to 125 discarded pieces of chewing gum), the benefits of Gum-Out, its uses on clothing, in transport, the home, in leisure and entertainment venues, and in schools. As one testimonial on the site notes, the Backwell School in Bristol has happily experienced many of those potential benefits in their trial use of the product:

As a result of your recent mail shot we purchased a batch of your product, GUM-OUT. I must say with slight misgivings, as most gum removal products are not as good as claimed.

However, the problem with gum being a serious nuisance, we decided to give GUM-OUT a try. To our surprise the product certainly handles the job very well even on hard, stamped-in gum. We have used your GUM-OUT on carpets, curtains and children’s clothes with great success and will certainly re-order when supplies run short. May I also add that GUM-OUT is easy and reasonably clean to use.

With many thanks from the cleaning and care taking staff,

Yours faithfully,

Caretaker, Backwell School, Brisol, UK

 
PHOTO:  Dumfries Civic Pride

Our friends (you can see some of them above) who make up the Dumfries Civic Pride group are, according to their website:

a group of Doonhamers who are proud of Dumfries, the historic town that gave rise to the names Bruce, Burns and Barrie.
We give up our spare time to make sure that you can be also be proud of your town.

We do this, in association with the Dumfries and Galloway Council, by promoting a well cared for environment, which provides businesses, tourists with the right message.

Our work includes:

…Clean-ups - Undertake litter and graffiti removal.

The latter goal that this group has set for itself has led to an audacious suggestion made earlier this week in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard, and that is to ban gum altogether from the UK, much as Singapore has done. As their frustrations increase in cleaning the town centre from discarded gum (yes, ’tis the season for AndrewsGumWorld stories on gum removal in the UK) has led them to write to their MPs to encourage them to take what the group sees as a necessary step.

In the article, group member Morris Service (a most excellent name for a group of this sort) explained the reasons behind their call for the criminalisation of the dropping of chewing gum to The Standard:

“The majority dispose of chewing gum responsibly but there were still those who left their discarded gum on the street, benches or on the back of seats on public transport.”He added: “While this seems a far reaching proposal, it comes with an increasing frustration at the impossible task of cleaning the sheer amount of chewing gum accumulating on our streets and pavements.

“Despite the efforts of Dumfries and Galloway Council employing contractors to remove chewing gum from parts of Dumfries town centre, at considerable expense, the problem has only been temporarily dealt with.”

The council has spent more than £1million on a major repaving project of Friars Vennel in Dumfries, which according to Mr Service is becoming littered with gum already.

In the same piece, a local MP, Russell Brown agreed with the challenges highlighted by the group, and called for local stores to carry biodegradable gum, recently introduced in England:

“I know gum stained pavements in Dumfries are a massive source of frustration for proud Doonhamers. But equally I know it is only the small minority who have no respect who throw their gum on the floor for someone else to come along and unknowingly tread it into the pavement.

“Last month an organic, biodegradable gum hit the shelves of supermarkets in the UK. So an alternative to banning gum – which could be difficult to enforce – could be to encourage local retailers to stock this natural substitute which does not stick to clothing or pavements.”

 
slo 011, originally uploaded by riley lassner.

Gumdrop, originally uploaded by Larsz.

While AndrewsGumWorld doesn’t often hear from the people we write about, we got a nice note yesterday from our friends at GumClear, who were featured in a post we wrote just over a month ago regarding their efforts in Kirkintilloch in Scotland to tackle the significant problem of disposed gum. Here’s what the note said:

Just spotted this article about the Kirkintilloch project we were involved with - it went very well.

We use an environmentally friendly removal technique that minimises the amount of water used and disruption to the locality. We also make sure our work is highly visible, hopefully helping to change people’s habits so the dispose of their gum responsibly.

As you may have read elsewhere in AndrewsGumWorld, we fully not only responsible gum use (as a reminder: in the mouth or in the garbage bin), but also the great work that companies like GumClear does to find environmentally friendly solutions to the problem of disposed gum. You can read more about their work on their informative site (including some great insights about the scope of this challenge), but here are some more details about why their approach is, indeed, environmentally friendly:

Problems with High Pressure Power Washing
Traditional high pressure power washing uses around 8 litres of water per minute, which can quickly flood an area and cause damage by dislodging the grout and sand in paving joints.

Power washing also tends to merely move the chewing gum to another area where it reforms and sticks to the surface again.

Specialist Gum Removal Equipment
The equipment used by Gum Clear has been specifically designed to remove gum from external surfaces and uses only 2 litres of water per hour, minimising the environmental impact of the cleaning process.

 Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the purchase of GumBuster equipment by local businesses, and the transformation that’s come with that $9,000 investment (that’s Clean Sweep ambassador Mike Mitchell gum busting above).

Part of the article, “Sidewalk steamer renders gum gone,” (and it’s nice, it should be noted, to see alliteration instead of the usual gum pun) talks about the wonders (and biodegradable cleaning ingredients) of the process:

Powered by a portable generator, the GumBuster mixes steam and biodegradable detergent to erase these bottlecap-size blotches that long ago lost their flavor and were expectorated onto the sidewalk. It may be a myth that swallowed gum lasts seven years in your stomach, but it’s mighty resilient on concrete.

Like Bazooka Joe, Mitchell wields a 3-foot-long wand with a brush on the business end to zap each spot. It’s like they disappear, he said, sometimes emitting one last whiff of mint or cinnamon as their last gasp.

You’d swear most of these gum blobs are actually tar because they’re so dirty black. But hit ’em with a blast of 260 degrees and they return to their original color before bubbling into nothingness.

AndrewsGumWorld has visited Croydon in the UK before for the efforts by its Business Improvement District (BID) to rid the town of the “scourge” of gum — a process which has led to the cleaning up of at least 4 million pieces of gum over the past year.

According to this morning’s Croydon Advertiser, the BID has launched a new phase of the effort (incidentally, pictured above are golden gum fighters Phillipa Trixter and Bevan Allen at the BID launch), with the town mayor, Jonathan Driver, passing out gum wraps for gum disposal. Additionally, gum spotters are giving £10 gift vouchers to those “caught” properly disposing of their gum, and the £75 fine for spitting out gum remains in effect.

According to Ros Morgan, manager of the Business Improvement District, all of these efforts have a positive end result for the town, as today’s article reported:

“We will be closely monitoring the campaign at ten locations in and around the centre.”We will be checking during it and when it ends to see what effect it has had on the amount of gum on the streets.”

She added: “We have spent a lot of money on power washing the streets but clearing up gum is considered by businesses to be very important.

“It is all part of making Croydon a safer place and ensuring people enjoy themselves when they come here.”

“There is no point in organising events like fashion and food festivals to get people in, if they find the centre is unattractive when they arrive.

“We want to raise people’s awareness of the problem and alert them to their responsibilities”, Ms Morgan said.

Gum Reprocessing?, originally uploaded by Comtesse DeSpair.

(From an abandoned Brach’s candy factory in Chicago…)

Van gum, originally uploaded by Brett Jordan.

Elsewhere in AndrewsGumWorld, we’ve featured a variety of “stick your gum here,” posters, but DDB Sydney figured out a creative way to deal with disposed gum and create delayed Van Goghs in the process with this brilliant campaign (“Gum by numbers” for Hubba Bubba gum) that appeared earlier this year in Australia.

Kid in a candy store, originally uploaded by Clampants.

In today’s The Daily News from Newburyport, Massachusetts, Bill Goss offerd up the first version of his column, “Going Green,” which talks about options for the environment, including some of what he’d learned about recyling while he spent part of his life in Holland.

That journey of understanding started with childhood and the candy stores of Newburyport (one local store is pictured above), and the environmental impact it had on the streets of his hometown:

Since I was a young boy, I have cared about the environment. I was born and raised in Newburyport in the 1950s by parents who wouldn’t tolerate littering of any kind — my gum wrapper landing on the ground was considered a serious offense. And when I discovered that there were pipes sticking into the Merrimack River, pouring all sorts of nasty waste directly into the water just down the street from my home, I was mortified — could this be allowed?

As I walked to school, I saw the aftermath of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of pieces of chewing gum and wax candy that we used to buy at Schwartz’s, Rubino’s and Pattow’s neighborhood stores, discarded from hands, mouths and pockets directly onto the sidewalk. (If you remember these stores, you’ll know that I grew up in the South End). We had to watch our step as we made our way to the Brown School, or we’d be walking around with the gunk on the bottom of our soles.