Fun Target. The Value of Chewing Gum
Channel: Shirly B
Date: 2013-05-13

Project for a Crash Course on Creativity

Chewing gum: /'chü -iŋ 'gəm/

What it is? wikipedia says [1] that it is a type of gum made for chewing that dates back at least 5,000 years. Modern chewing gum was originally made of chicle, a natural latex; nowadays, it is mostly a polymeric synthetic rubber.
 
Before chewing it's hard, yet can be bent, powdery and dry and you can make indentations. 
When chewed, it can be sticky, stretchy, we can pull it into long strings, we can make ultra thin walled bubbles, the shapes are not limited to what could be done.
It can have good smell, good taste and could have bright colors.
You could use it to fill cracks in flowerpots or walls, hanging pictures or posters, artwork, train our muscles, delivery of medications or for DNA analysis. Chewing the gum can have positive influence on concentration, attention and coping with stressful situations increases blood supply for the brain.
Kids can buy chewing gum at the local shop for 3 cents a piece and adults can buy a packet of it for one euro. 
And many people buy gum. Only in the UK, 28 Million people chew gum [2]; add that to the rest of the world. 
For example, 59% of the people in the US, 79% in Saudi Arabian and 82% in Iran chew gum as well [3]. 
Unfortunately, 80-90% of the chewing gum is not disposed correctly [4].  Some people put it in handbags to dispose of it later but some others spit it on ground and don't even think twice about it. Some other people choose to stick it on any surface they decide convenient. There is gum everywhere!
The issue is, that to clean the chewing gum from public places has become a big financial burden. The gum costs 3 cent a piece but it costs 10 cent a piece to clean it! The UK Government estimated that it spent £158 million (about €180million) trying to clean up chewing gum in 1997. Add that to the costs in the rest of the world (OK except in Singapore where it has been banned and you can go to jail for it!).

How about we make the disposal of chewing gum fun? it is not a new concept: remember the fly sticker on a toilet bowl? it help the people to aim. Or the aluminum can catcher along the highways? 
We think a bin with a target and a counter can make the trick. If you either dispose of the gum in the bin or spit it to hit the target and succeed, a saving counter will add up 10 cents from which 70% will go to the "gum's community pot" where a project can be completed based on a continuing growing list (bench in the park, boat to cross a canal, etc). The other 30% will increase the sustaining this project. And to further increase sustainability, the targets, bins and community projects can be made with BRGP (Bullus recycled gum plastic), a plastic based on recycled gum implemented by Anna Bullus! (http://www.annabullus.com)

So, what is then the value created with this approach? 
The non-tangibles include entertainment, a cleaner community and improvement of community spirit; based on a reponse of only 1% and with the numbers of given for the UK in 1997, at first glance the tangibles would be about €1 million in community projects per year and €0,5 million to sustain the project. 

And you can chew on that!


[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum (accessed 12 May 2013)
[2] http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/TransportStreets/StreetcareandCleaning/LitterEnforcement/LitterEnforcement.aspxhttp://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/TransportStreets/StreetcareandCleaning/LitterEnforcement/LitterEnforcement.aspx (accessed 12 May 2013)
[3] http://www.kantarmediauk.com/news--resources/press-releases/more-gum-chewed-in-the-middle-east-than-the-usa.aspx (accessed 12 May 2013)
[4] Ibid 2