Gum Wars

SallyB2
By SallyB2 Last edited 187 months ago
Gum Wars
0408.gum.jpg

Back to Croydon. This time it’s all about chewing gum, and the borough’s efforts to get the stuff off the streets. They are one of 16 town centres being asked to participate in a carrot and stick scheme to cut back on careless gum disposal: state-of-the-art gum wraps are being distributed to kids, and there’s a gum poetry competition (yes, really). The alternative facing serial gumpsters is £75.00 fines.

This Londonista has to admit to being a bit of a gum-fascist, and so supports anything which helps to cut back on it. What is the point of buying something that you are going to throw away? That ruins hairdos, outfits, carpets and streetscapes (although we have to concede that gum art is pretty cool). We’d much rather buy something that we can actually eat. Considered scoffing over mindless mastication. And if it’s a case of breath freshening, well, chewing gum is all well and good for about five minutes, and then there's this foul aftertaste... Give us a peppermint or a sprig of parsley any day. The only good thing that chewing gum companies do it to sponsor stuff.

One company may have the answer with a shiny new patent polymer which is water-soluble, and goes by the catchy name of Clean Gum. Something needs to be done for sure: councils are paying £150,000 a year to scrape the stuff off our pavements.

Just for fun, Londonist thought it would throw its poetic towel into the ring with a gum haiku:

Cows swallow their cud

Whilst you pay, chew and discard.

Who’s the silly moo?

Hmm. Alright, so it’s Monday. Anyway, just watch where you tread.

Gum from Mahalie’s flickr stream under the Creative Commons Licence.

Last Updated 04 August 2008