A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

gum wrapper art, originally uploaded by william d. mack.

 The Basingstoke Gazette reported on Test Valley Borough Council’s efforts in Andover to cut the number of people spitting out their gum where it doesn’t belong, part of Britain’s and the Chewing Gum Action Group’s nation-wide efforts to reduce discarded gum on the pavements of the cities, towns and villages of that country.

To highlight the need in Andover (which last year spent 15 days and £13,500 [US$24,000+] removing gum from its streets), the Council set up a “grime scene” to make its point.

Here’s how it worked:

On Monday two demonstrations aimed at showing people the effect of gum being left on pavements were set up in Andover High Street.

A grime scene’ - where each piece of gum was marked with a ticket - aimed at showing people that dropping it was a fineable offence; while each blob of gum in an area of pavement near the Guildhall was highlighted and circled with chalk.

Gum Art #1, originally uploaded by Lex76.

 Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the purchase of GumBuster equipment by local businesses, and the transformation that’s come with that $9,000 investment (that’s Clean Sweep ambassador Mike Mitchell gum busting above).

Part of the article, “Sidewalk steamer renders gum gone,” (and it’s nice, it should be noted, to see alliteration instead of the usual gum pun) talks about the wonders (and biodegradable cleaning ingredients) of the process:

Powered by a portable generator, the GumBuster mixes steam and biodegradable detergent to erase these bottlecap-size blotches that long ago lost their flavor and were expectorated onto the sidewalk. It may be a myth that swallowed gum lasts seven years in your stomach, but it’s mighty resilient on concrete.

Like Bazooka Joe, Mitchell wields a 3-foot-long wand with a brush on the business end to zap each spot. It’s like they disappear, he said, sometimes emitting one last whiff of mint or cinnamon as their last gasp.

You’d swear most of these gum blobs are actually tar because they’re so dirty black. But hit ’em with a blast of 260 degrees and they return to their original color before bubbling into nothingness.

Gum as art, originally uploaded by kerfuffle & zeitgeist.

Market Street Photographer, originally uploaded by michaeln84.

AndrewsGumWorld has visited Croydon in the UK before for the efforts by its Business Improvement District (BID) to rid the town of the “scourge” of gum — a process which has led to the cleaning up of at least 4 million pieces of gum over the past year.

According to this morning’s Croydon Advertiser, the BID has launched a new phase of the effort (incidentally, pictured above are golden gum fighters Phillipa Trixter and Bevan Allen at the BID launch), with the town mayor, Jonathan Driver, passing out gum wraps for gum disposal. Additionally, gum spotters are giving £10 gift vouchers to those “caught” properly disposing of their gum, and the £75 fine for spitting out gum remains in effect.

According to Ros Morgan, manager of the Business Improvement District, all of these efforts have a positive end result for the town, as today’s article reported:

“We will be closely monitoring the campaign at ten locations in and around the centre.”We will be checking during it and when it ends to see what effect it has had on the amount of gum on the streets.”

She added: “We have spent a lot of money on power washing the streets but clearing up gum is considered by businesses to be very important.

“It is all part of making Croydon a safer place and ensuring people enjoy themselves when they come here.”

“There is no point in organising events like fashion and food festivals to get people in, if they find the centre is unattractive when they arrive.

“We want to raise people’s awareness of the problem and alert them to their responsibilities”, Ms Morgan said.

Gum Fence, originally uploaded by Don Chalant.

You, faithful reader of AndrewsGumWorld, may not only chew gum, but also own a lawn that, well, is occasionally struck by an onslaught of moles that you may not with to be in (or underneath, actually), your lawn.

You are in remarkable luck, as it turns out, according to Cordell Vail (“The World Famous Gardener”), from Gum Guy’s home state of Washington, that even though you can no longer order his Mole Bate Sticks (they are no longer manufactured due to the expense involved), you can deal with moles and not have to rely on traps (as one of AndrewsGumWorld’s friends has done), garden hoses, car exhaust (which seems complicated), poisons or antifreeze.

But you do need gum, as his website explains.

Juicy Fruit™, in particular, seems to work best, and there are also worms and discarded plastic milk jugs involved:

TRADE SECRET YOU WILL WANT TO KNOW:
Now here is the a little secret to help you make your home remedy mole bate mole treatment more effective. Find an empty milk carton and cut the side out of it. Then open the chewing gum and put the chewing gum sticks into the milk carton. Then catch a few earth worms or night crawlers and put into the milk carton with the chewing gum, being careful to take the gum out of the wrapper without touching it with your fingers.

Now shake it all around until all the chewing gum sticks are covered with a coating of worm substance.

This way, when you put the chewing gum in the mole holes it will cause the moles to be more anxious to eat the bate. Worms are one of their main foods. Putting this coating on the gum will be very effective in getting the moles to eat the gum. It is the gum that kills the moles. When they eat it, it clogs up their insides and they die.

Once again, you can find all five steps, more photos, and a case studies (with photos) of how the procedure works can be found on the Moles Be Gone website

Bubble Gum Line : Project365 : Photo 9, originally uploaded by grahamcase.