The Sustainable Art of Chewing Gum

There’s no question that there’s a strong business case for art. Billions of dollars change hands every year in the industry, whether through traditional art sales and auctions, admission to museums, participation in cultural organizations, or the like. Art is important, and to experience it, people are willing to pay.

Not convinced? In 2015, the United Kingdom saw expenditure of £18,861 million on cultural services. In the same year, Brazil was home to 67,630 companies and organizations legally registered in the arts, culture, sports, or recreational sectors.

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And just last year, global art auctions generated $2.67 billion from the top ten selling artists. This includes: $450.31 million by works from Leonardo da Vinci, $446.4 million from Pablo Picasso, and $337.07 million by the most famous Neo-Expressionist painter of the 1980s, Jean-Michel Basquiat.

And let’s not forget to highlight the ladies’ contribution. Between 2005 and 2015, the top ten female revenue-producing artists worldwide have generated $560.26 million. That’s quite a chunk of change – you go girls!

But as the “starving artist” stereotype might affirm, money does not govern all. Aside from the great benefit art can bestow on an economy, it can also have the power to do great good. Art that does both holds immense power to change social and cultural norms that can benefit our societies in the long term.

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British designer Anna Bullus has narrowed in on this intersection between art and social power to make an impact through chewing gum. Her solution? Gumdrop Ltd.

So how is Gumdrop Ltd. making a positive business case for change?

Gumdrop Ltd. reports that one piece of chewing gum costs an average of 3 pence (about 4¢ in U.S. dollars) to produce and 10 pence (or 14¢) to be scraped off the ground. The organization projects that in the next year, 1 million metric tons, or 3.74 trillion pieces of gum will be made. Simple math tells us that proper disposal of each and every piece of gum has the potential to save a whopping $524 billion.

Well, let’s imagine that not all pieces of gum will end up on the ground…but some do! Gumdrop Ltd. has thought of this too. The organization cites that on Oxford Street in London, nine of ten paving stones have discarded chewing gum on them, and there are a quarter of a million pieces of discarded chewing gum on the pavement. Based on our previous calculations, Oxford Street alone will require $35,000 to clean up.

Thus we arrive at Gumdrop Ltd.’s mission:

Gumdrop Ltd. has the goal of recycling “waste” chewing gum and repurposing it into second-generation rubber and plastics. The organization designed bubble gum-pink chewing gum receptacles to encourage recycling of chewing gum. The canisters resemble a chewing gum bubble of two sizes: one that can hang on public poles, and another small enough to hang on personal key-chains. Once full, the receptacles are sealed-up and sent off to the Gumdrop factory, where they are recycled as a whole – canister and all—into Gum-tec ®.

The business case doesn’t end here! This innovation is not only pioneering the chewing gum recycling industry but has the potential to disrupt the fashion industry as well. Recycled Gum-tec ® is not only used to create the Gumdrop receptacles and is also made into fashionable pink products such as mugs, pencils, and even wellies. So whether you are a fan of their products, want to do something good for your cities, ecosystems, and table undersides, or if you just like the color pink, Gumdrop Ltd. is making recycling your chewing gum both fashionable and fun.

To learn more, visit BBC’s article: World Hacks: A surprising new afterlife for chewing gum.

And to learn more about what role you can play in the business case for sustainability, enroll today in HBX’s Sustainable Business Strategy!

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Danh mục: Info