WCMT Report_Anna Bullus - Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Report 2009 Researching Gum Litter in other Countries. Anna Bullus Australia, Malaysia and America WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
‘Thank you to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for awarding me a fellowship and giving me the opportunity to research gum litter, to meet all sorts of different kinds of people form all walks of life and having the pleasure of exploring other countries’ I have started with the letter I wrote to the Winston Churchhill Memorial Trust as this clearly describes my aims for my fellowship and because this is where my journey began. Dear Julia Following our conversation on the phone, I am writing to update you on my progress and to discuss my plans for the WCMT Fellowship. Since being awarded the Fellowship, I have continued my research into how to produce pellets from recycled chewing gum to use in industry for injection and blow molding and to my surprise and delight, I have managed to do exactly this using the facilities and expertise of the London Metropolitan University here in the UK. Having achieved this, I have now developed and am about to manufacture the prototype ‘GUMDROP’ bin. GUMDROP Bin is a small bin made from recycled chewing gum that is used specifically for the collection of chewing gum. Once the bin is full the whole thing gets recycled to make new GUMDROP Bins. As you can guess, my objectives have therefore changed. The next stage for my product to be a success in cleaning the streets of Britain is for me to travel to research other countries’ attitudes towards gum disposal. I would like to use my Fellowship as an opportunity to take GUMDROP to America, Australia and Malaysia. As Americans are the world’s top gum chewers, I would like to do some first hand research to learn the motives behind their habits of irresponsible disposal in order to assist me educate the people of Britain on the use of GUMDROP and why, as the inventors of chewing gum, the Americans are yet to find a more effective way of cleaning their streets than by using machines. I would like fully to understand how they tackle the problem and bounce ideas around in order to ensure that my product will be as effective as possible in helping to keep Britain clean. The organisations and people whom I would like to meet: ∙ Christine Quinn, Speaker District 3, New York City Council. I would like to investigate the current schemes in New York which are supported by the Council and the thoughts and ideas they have for future improvement. ∙ Matthew McKenna, President, Keep America Beautiful, Stanford, Conneticut. This is the largest non‐profit educational and community improvement organisation on litter prevention, community improvement and waste reduction in the US. They believe that ‘litter behaviour can change’. I would like to know how. ∙ Wrigley Manufacturing Co LLC, Chicago. To investigate and discuss with them their manufacturing processes and learn whether any processes they use in the creation of chewing gum can assist me in refining ways of recycling it which may assist me developing the material. ∙ I would like to carry out primary research on the US public in order to assess their attitudes to responsible disposal of chewing gum. 2
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
∙ Tony Croshier, The Gum Guy, Camarillo, CA. Tony runs a street cleaning company specifically for chewing gum. It is the only company in California to use a dry vapour steam system to clean chewing gum. He is very keen on gum eradication and showed a real interest in sharing views on future sustainable ideas for eradicating irresponsible gum disposal. Australia’s biggest litter problem after cigarette butts is discarded chewing gum. 347 million packs of chewing gum are chewed by 10 million people every year. This means that almost half the population of Australia chew a piece of gum every day for 47 weeks of the year of which 80 – 90% is disposed of irresponsibly. As the climate in Australia is very different to the UK, Australians spend much more time out of doors than the British and as such may have a different view on what would make people more responsible about gum disposal. ∙ Robyn Hobbs, Manager Environment and Waste Services, Sydney City Council, Sydney. To find out what the council are already doing to combat chewing gum litter, whether the climate gives them different ideas and what their views are for the future. ∙ The Gould Group, Moorabbin, Victoria. This organisation is developing awareness schemes for waste and is currently focusing on the disposal of chewed chewing gum. ∙ Catherine Pemberton, Corporate Communications Director, Wrigley Co Pty, Sydney. Catherine Pemberton is heading a scheme to ‘set up new habits for a life time’ in terms of gum disposal. Seeing as we have the same objective, I am keen to meet her to discuss her plans and ideas. ∙ Val Southam, CEO Waste Management Association of Australia, Keep Australia Beautiful, Sydney. Keep Australia Beautiful is a national company which is behind a poster campaign to educate the public in responsible disposal of chewing gum. I would like to know where this is happening, how and why they chose a poster campaign, what effect the posters have had so far and what has been learnt from the campaign. ∙ Maria Atkinson, Head of Sustainability, Lendlease Corporation, Sustainable Sydney 2030. Sydney is part of a national sustainable programme to pave the way to a greener future. I would like to learn about the schemes and targets for 2030. My visit to Malaysia, specifically Singapore, is driven by the fact that the laws on chewing gum are extreme. It was banned from being imported into the country in 1992 and was revised in 2004 as people were sticking it, among other places, in the door sensors of the underground trains which prevented the doors from working properly. ∙ Primary research: I would like to know what a Singaporean’s immediate reaction to GUMDROP will be. Having been forced to change their chewing gum habit overnight, what is the public’s view? Do they notice whether the city is cleaner? If it is, is it appreciated or would they rather be free to chew gum if they had a sustainable way of disposing of it? ∙ Vincent Chan, 800 Super Waste Management Pte Ltd, WMRAS (Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore). This group’s objectives are to professionalise and develop a leading waste management and recycling industry in Asia. It is especially keen to create public awareness on recycling and reuse of litter. I would like to visit this company to find out their ideas and ways of implementing such schemes to see whether what they have to offer would be appropriate to implement in the UK. If I can bring back new ideas and methods, knowledge and advice from first hand research, I know I can develop GUMDROP (and possibly other products) to be a major factor in educating the British people to dispose of their gum responsibly thus involving themselves in a sustainable cycle resulting in Britain becoming a gum pollution free environment. 3
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
At the moment, I anticipate spending approximately three weeks in both the US and Australia and a week in Singapore. While the representatives I have mentioned have expressed an interest in sharing their ideas with me, I am unable to confirm any meetings until I have arranged my travel dates. If my plans are acceptable to you, I would be grateful if you could give me the go ahead as soon as possible so I can arrange my flights and meetings. I look forward to hearing from you and, once again, thank everyone for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. Kind regards Anna [email protected] www.gumdropbin.com 4
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
The Fellowship Plan: Destination one: Australia – Sydney 3 – 24 March 2009 Destination Two: Malaysia ‐ Singapore 24 – 28 March 2009 Destination Three: United States ‐ New York 19 – 24 April Destination Four: Chicago 24 – 28 April Destination Five: San Francisco 28 April – 2 May Destination Six: Los Angeles 2 – 6 May Destination Seven: Miami 6 – 10 May My Fellowship’s purpose was to gather facts on gum litter and reports on how they deal with it so that I could use this information to clean the streets of Britain. Therefore I have written my report in a factual format. Australia: Sydney 3 – 24 April 2009 First Impressions Sydney is a beautiful city by the sea with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge basking in the sunshine. Australia’s climate is much warmer than the UK’s therefore Australians spend considerably more time outdoors than us in the UK. On this fact alone I was sure that Sydney was going to have more of a litter problem than London. I wondered how they dealt with it and, in particular, gum litter. My first day in Sydney and my first meeting: I was nervous and excited. I had to get the boat from Manly over to Circle Key. My Meeting is with AMP Shopping Centers. I disembark the boat, I’m walking quickly leaving circle Key behind me and onto the streets of Sydney. SPLODGE. I looked down and (I promise you this really happened and is not an affect for the story) I had stepped on a piece of chewing gum! 5
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
I scan the streets for more gum. There is a lot but not compared to London. However, I suppose the population is less in Sydney so it is all relative. The first problem I notice is that because the sun is beating down on the streets the gum is warm and sticky and anyone’s worst nightmare. Through the swing doors and I’m into AMP… 1.AMP Who? AMP own 41 shopping centres in Australia. Do they have a gum litter problem? AMP suffer from a huge gum litter problem at all major entry points, car parks, bus terminals and smoking points. A minority dispose of their gum in the food halls under the tables. What type of people irresponsible dispose of their gum? Inside the shopping centre it tends to be people aged between 14 – 24. However gum that has been discarded outside seems to come from people of all ages. What is being done to combat the problem? AMP hire cleaning contractors – Cleanevents and ISS maintain the buildings’ cleanliness. These contractors are responsible for cleaning surfaces of gum. They use high pressure water hoses to remove the gum. Is there a specific budget? There is no specific budget for removing gum. It is included in the cleaning contractors overall budget. Overall view on gum litter and GUMDROP? AMP agreed that gum litter is a major issue for their shopping centres’ overall appearance and cleanliness and is a costly litter to remove. It is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. AMP suggested that a product like GUMDROP would work best if piggy backed with a cleaning company. AMP set up a meeting for me with Cleanevents. 6
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
2. Cleanevents Who? Cleanevents maintain the cleanliness of commercial sites, maintaining most of the AMP shopping centres. How do they deal with gum litter? Cleanevents have to deal with gum removal every single day. Car Parks are their biggest concern as they are large areas that they have very little control over. They remove gum outdoors using high pressured jet sprays. However this process is timely and therefore expensive. It also causes further damage to the surface and creates spot stains which are equally as unsightly. Gum removal inside has to be done by hand using a scraper. This job is again timely and unpleasant. What type of people irresponsibly dispose of their gum ? Mostly young kids, but really all ages, cleanevents say that it is caused by the inconvenience of not having litter bins in the right place at the right time. What is being done to combat the problem? They did not know of any specific technology or products that were being developed to specifically combat gum litter. Is there a specific budget? There is no specific budget set aside for the removal of gum litter. Cleanevents were unable to say exactly how much was spent cleaning gum litter up a year but suggested it was thousands of dollars a year. Overall view on gum litter and GUMDROP? Cleanevents said a product like GUMDROP if located correctly (this is the challenge as well as getting people to use it) could be a massive help and save a lot of time and money. People are set in their ways and it would be very difficult to change a habit. Cleanevents made me realise that I need to contact a company like Veolia in the UK who are already well established in the recycling business. 3. Sue Macdonald – Galileo Who? Galileo / Lend Lease. Overall view on gum litter and GUMDROP? Sue was a great person to talk to as she has had a lot of experience working with the development of shopping centres. Sue thought that there was a lot of gum litter in Australia and noticed that nothing was being actively done to prevent this from happening. Sue thought the GUMDROP concept would work in highly populated areas such as city centres with the right support and message. She believed that a combination of government backing and educational schemes would be a way to progress. Sue was interested in ‘one use’ products made from recycled gum polymer as the recycling process is continuous and therefore eases the guilt of only using a product once. 7
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
4. Douglas Low – Third Person Douglas very kindly helped me gain press whilst in Sydney. Please see the link below. http://www.indesignlive.com/articles/sustainability/all‐chewed‐up 5. Jon Dee Who? Founder of Planet Ark and Do Something. Jon is very experienced in putting together sustainable schemes and making people change the way they think and act. Jon motivates people to take on new concepts so that we can better preserve our planet. Jon was the perfect candidate to get advice on how to change gum chewers habits on a global scale. Advice on how I could capture the imagination of gum chewers. ‐There has to be an incentive ‐They had to be able to get something back from acting in this different way ‐It has to be as easy than what gum chewers currently do ‐It has to be explained in a way that everyone can understand ‐It needs to be easily adaptable to all lifestyles ‐Need a face behind the solution to gum litter that people can trust e.g Wrigley’s ‐Need government backing I began to realise that the more people I spoke to the more a common thread of ideas was beginning to emerge. Since I have been in the UK I have put together a business plan and hope to obtain government backing. 6. Sydney City Council – Robyn Hobbs – Executive Manager Does Sydney have a gum litter problem? Yes Where is the problem? Sydney City Council consider that Sydney has a huge problem with gum litter in areas that are heavily populated at one time e.g Bus Stops Train Stations Ferry ports Thousands of commuters come into the Central Business District everyday. With such a large footfall in this area every day and with no real gum recycling programme people have created gum hot spots. I went to visit these places ws amazed at the amount of gum that had been discarded irresponsibly. 8
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
Robyn put together a small report on gum litter: LITTER ISSUE ‐ CHEWING GUM City of Sydney Visual audits of street litter bins suggest that the main issue relating to chewing gum is that users often spit the chewing gum waste in the direction of the bin; frequently missing the receptacle. This results in sticky gum spots deposited around bins. The City’s Cleansing Team identified and photographed the top five chewing gum hotspots within the City (page 2). These are currently managed through cleansing after the fact, rather than dealing with the issue before it becomes litter. Street Cleansing Issues Cleansing staff then scrape the material from the walkway/surrounding area with varying degrees of success; • Chewing gum on sealed granite pavers can generally be removed quite easily, but overtime the seal on the paver is removed increasing the porosity. • Chewing gum on bitumen surfaces is difficult to move as the gum gets trodden into the surface and only the top layer gets scraped off leaving a ground in dirty residue. Behaviour Change The installation of material specific bins for depositing gum would not alone resolve the issue of gum around receptacles as it is the behaviour of the person depositing the waste that needs to be changed. An integrated approach and suite of tools to encourage behaviour change could include legislation/policies, education campaigns, compliance measures and so on would be recommended. Chewing gum litter is not a priority currently for waste education as the focus is on implementing the Waste Management Strategy and increasing resource recovery from residential dwellings. Extended Producer Responsibility In line with Extended Producer Responsibility, chewing gum manufacturers may be interested in being involved in such a project. Wrigley’s have been proactive towards environmental responsibility within their organisation and the community. Find out more about Wrigley’s commitment to the environment: 9
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
http://www.wrigley.com.au/AboutWrigley/Environmental.asp To find out more about chewing gum litter and consumer behaviour contact them directly: http://www.wrigley.com/au/contact_us/contact_form.do City of Sydney Chewing Gum Hotspots: George Street, Sydney Adjacent to the entrance to Town Hall railway station. 501 George Street, Sydney Adjacent to cinemas King Street Wharf Corner King and Lime Streets Hunter Street, Sydney Outside Hunter Bar Eddy Avenue, Sydney South side of Central Station 10
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
Bad Areas Wynyard bus exchange Wynyard Lane Carrington St George Street Robyn said I could contact her at any time to find out any further information and was interested to know the results of my Gumdrop trials in the UK. She suggested I contact The Clinton Foundation (London Office) and transport companies eg Bus – State Rail – Ferry. (Gumdrop trials officially start on 27 November 2009 at Orpington College, Kent.) Could GUMDROP be used as a solution? Yes. If the UK trials are successful I will take the opportunity to contact Sydney City Council to see if we could work together. 7. Maria Atkinson – Lend Lease There is a huge problem with gum litter globally and the best way to tackle the problem is through government backing. If the government strongly support the initiative and show that they are serious i.e a fine, people are going to start to think twice. People will then start to go that extra little mile to put their gum in the bin. There needs to be an educational programme that runs alongside the government support so that people understand why they are being told to dispose of their gum responsibly. Cleaning and transport companies should also be involved on the look out for throwers so that they can remind them, teach them. A community of people that all believe in cleaner streets needs to be built, that way the message will spread and stick, as on the whole people want to feel they are doing the right thing. Once a community of good gum chewers has grown that’s when you can start targeting specific places like cinemas and shopping centres so that people already know what to do with their gum. Therefore GUMDROP will be a success in cleaning Britain’s streets and public places. 8. Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) – CEO Peter Mclean KAB is an organisation that runs programmes on: ‐Tidy Towns ‐Sustainable Cities ‐Waste watchers ‐Clean Beach Challenge ‐Sustainable Gardens Challenge Campaigns run for between 4 – 6 weeks ‐KAB teach 50,000 school children ages 5 – 11 face to face a year ‐They have 4 full time teachers ‐These are the litters that they deal with in their teaching programmes Gum Cigarettes 11
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
Fast Food Packaging Water ‐ Cigarette litter is the number one problem in Sydney as it has been finally noticed. If gum was taken seriously as a litter then this would be a close runner up if not joint first. The problem needs to be recognised properly first. Think how long it took for cigarette companies to put health warnings on cigarette packets. KAB has various corporate sponsors one of them being Wrigley’s and has been for 5 years. KAB when asked about GUMDROP: ‐Would like to see a personal disposer developed ‐Would advertise, get press, Street Education, Billboards, primary follow up. ‐Look seriously into the simplest methods in order to change behaviour of audience ‐Government funding ‐Corporate sponsors Teach small children as they have a knock on affect CHILDREN – FRIENDS – PARENTS – FAMILY – FAMILY FRIENDS… Peter invited me to a Waste Watchers lunch. This was an organised event that took place in a local primary school library in Marickville. The event was to highlight the achievements of KAB and to give examples of how teaching methods had had a huge impact on schools and local communities. ‐Waste Watchers is a programme that has been running for the past 60 years. It focuses on recycling habits through lessons at primary schools ‐Environment and climate change ‐Includes the government, councils, individuals and corporate profiles ‐Each year they teach 38,000 pupils face to face in 330 different schools across 37 different council areas They had a great way of getting the kids to actually engage and enjoy learning how to look after our planet. I really learnt a lot in the importance of making new concepts and important issues fun. This way Children and Adults would want to be part of that new environmental concept. For example Plastic Recycling The children were being taught about recycling plastic and the different groups with in plastics. Each child got to pick some empty plastic items (milk bottle / sandwich packaging), they had to locate the group and then go and place the item in the right category of plastic that was presented with a big sign. 12
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
True or false The children all stood in the middle of the room. The right side of the room was false and the left side of the room was true. When asked a question based on sustainable education they had to run to the side of the room that they believed to be the right answer. It was an insightful and enjoyable way to learn about our planet and what we can do to make it a more habitable place. I would like to take these methods and use them in schools when talking about the seriousness of the issue of gum litter in the UK. 9. Wrigley’s – Catherine Pemberton Wrigley’s takes an active interest in helping to keep Australia clean. They are a corporate sponsor of Keep Australia Beautiful. They are involved in many litter campaigns but non‐specifically focusing on gum litter. They started supporting ‘litter’ prevention schemes in 2005 Wrigley’s enjoyed the concept of GUMDROP but agreed that the main issue that needed to change to stop gum litter is people’s behavioural habits. Malaysia: Singapore – 24 – 28 March 2009 Singapore and the history of chewing gum Chewing gum was banned in Singapore in 1992 and the laws revised in 2004. Singapore has banned the import and sale of chewing gum. Since 2004, only chewing gum of a therapeutic value is allowed into the country following the United States – Singapore Free Trade Agreement. Today small amounts of chewing gum can be bought from specific chemists. First Impressions Singapore is a clean and ordered city. There really was very little gum on the streets. Street cleaners that stride the streets 24/7 did clean off the gum litter that was on the streets almost immediately. My Experience of Buying Chewing Gum Buying gum in Singapore was a new experience altogether. In all other countries if you would like a piece of gum you go into a newsagent, petrol station, supermarket… almost anywhere and then after selecting the perfect pack from a choice of about 30 different types, you hand over your 55p and you 13
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
get your piece of gum out your packet and your satisfied. Not quite as easy in Singapore. First of all you have to find a particular pharmacist you go in, you tell the assistant at the medicine prescription desk that you would like to buy some chewing gum. He then hands you a book called the ‘GUM BOOK’. Buying chewing gum in the Guardian Pharmacy This is where you have to write down all the information on your ID card down. Once he has checked it you are then allowed to select which gum you would like out of a choice of 5 different packs. He then reaches into this special transparent incubator to get your gum. Once you have got it you then need to queue up at the check out desk to pay. I learnt one simple truth in Singapore. If it’s difficult to find gum to buy, it’s difficult to find gum litter! 14
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
America: 19 April – 10 May 2009 New York – First Impressions 10. Glee Gum Glee Gum is an organic chewing gum company. They manufacture their own gum and sell only in the US. They also sell ‘Make your chewing gum kits’. Deborah got in contact with me about 4 months ago as she came across my website and thought that a product like GUMDROP was thoroughly needed in the US. Deborah proposed that we met to find out if we could work together in some way to combat gum litter. We are still in contact today and I have so far received 200 pounds of waste gum from their manufacturers to carry out recycling tests on their gum in the hope of an interesting joint project. 11. Larrysa ‐ Galileo Larrysa took the view that the best way to reduce gum litter and to get people to listen was through University groups. In the US Universities are usually set in boroughs were that borough is effectively their campus. There is a huge problem with gum litter in those towns. Larrysa suggested that I approach these Universities and get a sustainability group together in each community and get them to promote the concept of recycling chewing gum and get the bins up all round the town. The group could get constructive feedback from other students. The reason for approaching colleges is that they have a huge influence in the environment’s community and if you can get a big college in each major city to run a sustainability group based on gum litter then it would be easier to change attitudes and habits towards gum litter. 12. Juanita Shanks – Keep Miami Beautiful I will be carrying out a phone interview at the end of November. 13. Universal Studios I tried my hardest to get a meeting with someone from Universal Studios but I was unsuccessful. However I spend a day at Universal Studios which, apart from being huge amounts of fun, was very interesting. I asked some of the employees their thoughts about gum litter at the resort. They explained Universal Studios is completely geared up to deal with large amounts of people. They know they need to cater for every type of problem that each individual may create. Their biggest problem is litter. 15
WCMT Fellowship Report 2009
I had a good look round and on the whole there was hardly any gum litter. Gum litter tended to be nowhere or everywhere. The reason for there not being much gum litter was because for every gum chewer there were about three possible bins for disposal at arms reach. Where there were gum litter hotspots, there were absolutely no bins in sight. Conclusion This was very encouraging for the end of my research trip. It just goes to show that if a Gumdrop bin was strategically placed in gum litter hotspots at appropriately calculated intervals, gum litter would be radically reduced. This is exactly what I am trying to achieve. All the people I have met and listened to, all the advice I have been given and all the places I have seen, have given me the confidence that a product like GUMDROP will be successful in cleaning the streets in Britain with: ‐The right message ‐An incentive for recycling your gum ‐An alternative that is easy and makes people feel good about themselves ‐The right backing ‐A Powerful educational scheme ‐The right location However, the advice was not all one way and I was delighted that through the Fellowship I was able to share my vision and inspire others to fight for cleaner streets. I would just like to take the opportunity again to thank everyone at the WCMT that have made it possible for me to meet all these people and see all these places. I had a truly wonderful and insightful Fellowship and hope to use my experience and new knowledge to create a more sustainable future for the UK. Thank you. If any future Fellows would like to contact me, I would be more than happy to help in any way possible. 16