gum off the streets
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007This afternoon I went for a walk to grab some lunch and happened across this funny looking post on the sidewalk. It looked like a giant lollypop. After a quick inspection, it turns out it’s a “gum drop-off”. Drop-off makes it sound like it’ll be recycled. Is this a Willy Wonka scheme to make all the chewed gum into fresh new gum?



mmm…freshly chewed gum for free
From envyrobubble.com…
It all began with a casual stroll, shopping downtown. We weren’t trying to change the world, we were just two moms with a weakness for beautiful shoes. But then: splat! We stopped in our tracks only to discover the bottoms of our Manolo Blahniks covered in gooey gum.
That got us thinking. Why were people throwing gum on the sidewalk? And why wasn’t there a place to dispose of it in an environmentally responsible way?
We did our homework and realized a public gum container would have to be designed specifically for gum, so we gave it a unique shape. It had to get attention and raise awareness of responsible gum disposal, so we covered it with a fun, eye-catching spiral design and made it scream bubble gum pink. Then we joined forces with a leading recycler to ensure that the gum collected became something useful: fertilizer.
Interesting. I’d like to know how much gum it takes to make some useful fertilizer. Is there really a business in this? By the time you manufacture, pay materials, installation, pay someone to collect all the gum from the bins, is the recycling company paying enough to make a profit? Or is this a non-profit company simply out to save the sidewalks and the cost of another pair of Manolo Blahniks? Either way, I’m in full support of getting more gum off the streets. I’m just not sure we need specialized bins to do so - a garbage can would suffice. I know where one gum-happy artist will be hanging around now - I like his form of gum recycling much better.
Have you spotted any of these around Toronto? Any other cities? Leave me a comment.



























