Authorities salivate over non-stick gum

20 September 2007

Highway authorities are hopeful that the development of a new ‘non-stick’ chewing gum represents a breakthrough in their campaign against a long-standing stain on the UK’s streets.

The announcement by University of Bristol spin-off company, Revolymer, that it has developed an environmentally-degradable gum, with the potential to cut councils’ £150M-a-year cleansing bill, was given a cautious welcome.

After 18 months, and more than 200 attempts at formulating a non-adhesive gum base which retains its chewiness, Revolymer said the product would be on the market next year.

Field trials demonstrated that the product, to be marketed as ‘Clean Gum’, did not remain stuck to paved areas it was applied to in the North Wales towns of Flint and Mole.

Three out of four samples of commercial gum dropped in the same areas were still present a week later. ‘I am delighted with our progress,’ said Roger Pettman, chairman and chief executive officer of Revolymer, which would ‘significantly change the pollution issues facing gum’. The product would be ‘easily removed from surfaces by applying water’, thereby removing the need for councils’ high-pressure jetting or special chemical solutions. It contains a new polymer, being registered for food use, which dissolves in water.

The technology could potentially be used by other gum manufacturers. Wrigleys tried to develop a non-stick product itself. Revolymer claims that in blind taste tests it had ‘as good a chew as the leading brands in terms of mouth feel and texture’, and similarly chewable for hours.

London Technical Advisers Group vice-chair, Gordon Prangnell, said: ‘The proof of the pudding will be in eating. If the public like it, and it both degrades and is non-stick, then it will remove a scourge from our streets and must be welcomed.’ But Encams deputy chief executive, Ian Clayton, while hopeful that Clean Gum would cut cleansing costs, stressed that ‘the best way to solve this problem is for people to put their gum in the bin’.

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