Save the Earth – recycle your chewing gum!

Some inconsiderate gum-chewers spit out their chewed gum on sidewalks or floors or stick it on furniture, where it always ends up on somebody’s shoe or on their clothing.  It reportedly costs UK city councils £150 million pounds a year to remove chewing gum litter from their streets.  I don’t know if there’s a gum removal squad in my city, but I’m sure cleaning up gum in businesses in the area is an extra chore the cleaning staff doesn’t want or need.  And even when it’s tossed out in a garbage can, the gum just adds to the landfill.  Did you know that chewing gum can be recycled?  I’m pretty sure that gum isn’t on the recyclables list in Greensboro, but if I had a Gumdrop On-the-Go keychain fob, I could cleanly collect my used gum and send it off to a company that does recycle it.

Gumdrop LTD, a UK company, has a method to recycle used gum into a product called Gum-tec® that can be used to make products from wellington boots, to mobile phone covers, stationery, packaging, and much more.  Gum-tec® is actually used to produce the Gumdrop fobs and receptacles.  The first step in recycling is collecting the gum, which is done by the Gumdrop On-the-Go keychain fob that looks like a pink bubblegum bubble.  Stuff your used gum in the fob, and when it’s filled, you send it to be recycled.

Sending it off for recycling can be accomplished in a couple of ways.  If you’re lucky enough to live in a city with a gum recycling program, you’ll see bins (like the one above) where you can drop off your filled fob.  Businesses could also provide the drop-off bins if they participate in Gumdrop’s program.  If not, you can print out a free mailing label so you can mail your On-the-Go fobs directly to Gumdrop.  Your gum, fob and all, will be recycled into more Gum-tec® products.

The Gumdrop On-the-Go fobs cost £9.99 (about $13.35 US) for a set of three.  Learn more about Gumdrop products and recycling chewing gum at the Gumdrop website.