Bubble Gum for Renewable Resource

A new way to think green, is to think pink! New company processes used gum as a renewable, recyclable resource.

Innovator Anna Bullus started her company Gumdrop Ltd to help solve a problem that costs millions of pounds to the UK government. This issue is the street litter of bubble gum that costs 150 million pounds annually, these funds are needed to remove gum from the streets of the UK.

Gumdrop Ltd provides bins that collect the used gum for recycling and processing, to make a new compound that can be used for durable rubber-based products. They have bright pink bubble bins made specifically for gum, in which they charge councils for recycling and processing services. This also helps to cut costs and creating a solution for keeping gum off the streets, maintaining roadways.

The processed material is called Gum-tec, utilizing the edible form of synthetic rubber material found in gum called polyisobutylene.

Gumdrop creates products that are featured on their online shop and offers a recycling service if the customers wish to recycle their products. They offer the Gumdrop On-the-go keychain to collect chewed gum that they can send in a provided recycle bag for carbon neutral processing.

This solution to keeping used gum off the street also brings awareness to the problem, serving as a reminder to help prevent this in the future.