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The recycled gum can become mobile phone covers, coffee cups and more.
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Anna Bullus, a British designer and the founder of Gumdrop, has created receptacles for people to dispose of their old chewing gum. From the gum waste, Bullus is creating a range of compounds called Gum-tec, which can be used to make things like mobile phone covers and coffee cups.
Bullus spent three years developing the Gum-tec material after consulting with the Polymers Department at London Metropolitan University. Bullus has installed receptacles at various locations in the UK, including the University of Winchester, Southampton Airport and the Westfield Stratford City Shopping Centre.
Confectionery News has more information:
To recycle the waste, Gumdrop works with a recycling plant in Worcester, which filters out unwanted material, like paper or sweet wrappers, in the Gumbins before grinding the gum into pieces and then compounds this with other recycled plastic polymers.
Bullus said the proportion in the mixture varies, but each object she makes with Amber Valley molding specialist in Leicester, contains a minimum of 20% chewing gum.
Amber Valley takes the mixture containing the old chewing gum then puts it into an injection molding machine where it is heated and ejected as a paste, then molded into an object as it cools.
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