Chew On This

As anyone who's ever stepped or sat in it knows, chewing gum is a major source of litter. As a matter of fact, it's the second-most-frequent source of litter in the world, behind only cigarette butts. Not only that, but when gum does get thrown away, it generates more landfill waste than the tire industry. There's a reason for that: tires can be recycled, while gum cannot be. See, modern chewing gum is made out of a petroleum byproduct that doesn't decay, which means it does nothing in a landfill but take up space. Incidentally, this means it's actually better for the environment for you to swallow your gum, since it can be harmlessly digested (the idea that it takes seven years to digest gum is a myth).
But on a more serious note, what's a habitual gum-chewer to do? That's what Anna Bullus of England wondered. She invented the GumDropBin, a specially designed recycling bin for chewing gum, as well as a chemical procedure that would break down the gum and rework it into a moldable, plastic-like material (which the GumDropBins are made out of). The bins are meant to be installed in public areas, along with trash cans and recycling bins, and are periodically emptied and taken to a special recycling plant to be rendered and molded into the new material.
So far, this new method has not been widely adopted. But if it were to be, it would cut down significantly on one of the world's most persistent litter problems.

                                                             
                           No one likes stepping on chewing gum, but if an interesting new idea is implanted, that might become a lot less common.