Skipper

Regular readers of this blog will know this topic encroaches on one of my hobby horses: the despoiling of our urban streets with sundry litter and noxious items like flattened chewing gum. In the UK virtually every square foot of pavement in towns and cities contain unsightly black, white or brown patches of spat out chewing gum from users who could not care less. An article on Monday gave the bad and the good news.

Bad News:
i) it costs between 10p and 30p to remove each flattened piece.
ii)it takes 17 weeks to remove gum from ther length of Oxford St and only 10 days for it to be covered again.
iii)local authorities each spend up to £200,000 a year on trying to clear gum and none seem to succeed as far as I can see, least of all my native Stockport and nearby Manchester.
iv) since the invention of the stuff we have managed to send astronauts into space and transplant new organs into failing bodies, but unable to discover a chemical which would dissolve the insoluble base from which gum is made. One wonders, why not?

Good News:

A new biogdegradeable chewing gum has been invented:

Chicza Rainforest Gum is manufactured in Mexico by Consorcio Chiclero - a consortium of 56 co-operatives employing some 2,000 chicleros (gum farmers) and their families. The workers extract natural gum from the sap of the chicle tree, which is then used to make the product.Unlike conventional chewing gum, which contains petrochemicals, the organic chewing gum does not stick to clothing or pavements. And once disposed of, it will crumble to dust in about six weeks, dissolving harmlessly in water or being absorbed into the soil. Chicza comes in lime, mint and spearmint flavours, and is going on sale at Waitrose for £1.39 a packet.

Personally I hate the stuff, but I'd love to think Alex Ferguson and other famous chewers would make a point of using the new non anti-social variety. Until the new stuff becomes generally available and used, why not ban the stuff as in Singapore and Venice?