MINDLESS LIVING:
Stepping on Gum
Stepping on someone’s chewing gum is disgusting, irritating, unsanitary, and just plain rude. When you’re walking to the grocery store or to your car, the last thing you’d expect to do is to find yourself stepping on gum that someone mindlessly spat out on the ground. As a result, you’ll spend at least the next 5 minutes trying to get that off your shoe.
Chewing gum is not biodegradable. Most chewing gum products are made from inorganic polyisobutylene or polyvinyl acetate rubber bases which are both resistant to biological breakdown processes. These are the same materials used to make adhesives and tire tubes. They’re designed to be long-lasting for heavy-duty use. That’s why so much chewing gum exists on our sidewalks, benches, and lampposts for months, even years with very little change in their form.
Some studies suggest that chewing gum is second to cigarette butts when it comes to biodegradability. Both are made of plastic that cannot be broken down by living organisms, such as bacteria. According to a study by Keep Britain Tidy, a British charity, 95% of the United Kingdom’s streets are stained with gum. Sadly, there’s not a study showing how many people are stepping on it as a result.
If you’re that spitter, please take a few seconds to locate a trashcan. Better yet, the polite thing to do is wrap up your chewed gum in the wrapper before throwing it away.
Please have some manners and be mindful. The world doesn’t want to be stepping on gum!