Shane Miller
Gwendolyn Ally
English VO2
27 April 2008
Sticks and Smells by My Feet
Walking down the street, I could feel stickiness under my shoes and I could smell smoke from the ground. The chewing gum and cigarette butts, which people do not consider as trash, infest the streets, harming animals and producing toxic gases. Chewing gum which causes harm toward animals and cigarette butts produce toxic gas that cause harm to the environment. The solutions to reduce gum problem toward a gum chewers, including myself are to throw away gum in trash using a wrap for each gum and to recycle gum. The solutions toward the cigarette butts are to collect cigarette butts in a container after each use and to find a cigarette trash cans. However, I, a non smoker, will contribute to solving the cigarette butts problem by volunteering to collect cigarette butts and spreading the words to smokers. Littering gum and cigarette is started by one person, who is passed on to the next person, causing billions of gum and cigarette butts in the streets. Because, today gum and cigarette butts infest the streets many people have the idea that gum and cigarette butts are not consider a litter. Comparing with other litter such as plastic bags and bottles, gum and cigarette butts are small, creating the idea of not causing as much harm when it causes more harm than other litter.
Today chewing gum infests the street and school campuses. Walking on campus or down town it is more likely to step on gum than not. Even chewing gum is found indoor under desks, chairs and in the bathrooms. People do not consider gum as littering, because such a small trash makes people think that it does not cause harm. In fact the there are many chewing gum that are litter attempts others do the same. In New York City the city spends over $8,000 on vacuum-cleanerlike machine that blasts gum off sidewalks. These machines come with more stainless-steel attachments than a door-to-door salesman could ever demonstrate (Barron). Chewing gum removing is a problem costing money and time on a problem that can be solved. Interviewing the Foothill Technology High School’s janitor Mario, he says “I spend more than two hours scraping gum off on school property every week”. A company that California based on called Recycle Media Corporation is first international distributor in a five year deal estimated to be worth $26.6 million. The money that is spent to clean the chewing gum is a waste. The money could be spent on more beneficial use such as, education, welfare, and supporting the environment. If people do not have a responsibility to take care of cleaning after their chewing gum should not chew gum. It is easy for people to spite away gum on the ground than finding a trash can. Today’s society people value time more than wealth, material and the environment. It is impossible to convince most of the population to throw gum away. The solution is to create a situation that will make people throw away. In my English class at Ventura College, I created an event poster for celebrating Earth Action Day. The poster collected gum from people by posting many famous people’s picture to stick gum on. The idea first started in London to prevent people from littering chewing gum. Setting up opportunities where it is convenient and existing to throw away gum. When people throw away their chewing gum in the trash or stick on the poster which is collected, it saves millions of dollar that is spend in chewing gum removal and creates cleaner cities and protects the environment.
Chewing gums are recyclable. Gummy Bins’ are small station made in the UK to collect chewing gum and recycle them. Nigel Bill, Head of Sales at Gummy Bins explains the significance of the deal: “Our chewing gum disposal and recycling system has had impressive results in the UK in 2006, showing an average reduction of 75% or more in chewing gum deposits in the vicinity of the ‘gummy bins’”. Many countries have already worked on the problem of litter that trashes the city and save money and saves the environment. Chewing gum litter is one of the most difficult forms of litter to remove. The removal cost range between $2 -$3 per piece of gum, and often there are harmful chemicals used. This cost is easily removed by using Gummy Bins and chewing gum collectors. The discarded chewing gum can be used in a football area and in an ingredient for a substance underneath play surfaces (Chasin). Discovery is made to recycle more trash to save the environment. The United States is one of few counties that is not working much to save resources, money, waste, and the environment. The chewing gum companies are doing less work to reduce chewing gum litter. By contributing effort to the Recycle Media and throwing away chewing gum can change the city and save the enlivenment.
Cigarette butts litter almost every public institution from government lobbies to parks; even in public high schools like Buena and Ventura, cigarette butts can be found in bathrooms and even sports tracks are not immune to the cover of cancer causing ashes of a Marlboro. Cigarette butt litter is the world’s greatest environmental litter problem. In the article “Fighting pollution is everyone’s responsibility”, the author argues that the world annually discards about 4.3 trillion cigarette butts creating over 500,000 tons of pollution per year which cause global warming and heart attacks. Cigarette butts cause harm to the environment, and will damage people’s lungs. Cigarette butts can not be thrown away in a normal trash can because they can start a fire. They must be thrown away in a proper trash can that will produce less toxic gas and harm. However, trash cans for cigarette butts are not found in many places. Many non smoking areas and near non smoking areas have many cigarette butts thrown in the streets. Cigarette smokers are addicted and most can not survive without a smoke for about two to five hours, causing many smokers to smoke outside area or in the bathrooms producing trash. In the cities there are not many cigarette trash cans. Lots of cigarette butts end up in birds, fishes, dogs, and cats stomachs causing diseases and death.
Today small handy cigarettes butt collectors are made and sold. Many throw away their cigarette butts because it is easier to throw them in the ground and it is small that it does not stand out much as other trash. In developed countries (or in markets where indoor smoking bans have been introduced) almost one in three cigarette butts ends up as litter and it can take up to 12 years for a cigarette butt to break down (McLaren). People do not realize what cigarette butts are causing to the environment and to people. The solution is similar to chewing gum, to bring trash cans to smokers, because no one can bring the smokers to the trash can. Most smokers are un-responsible for their own health and un-responsible for their action in cleaning up their mess. Another solution is to volunteer picking up cigarette butts. Picking cigarette butts are not easy, but after an hour the trash bag is full of cigarette butts. It is not only a cigarette smoker problem, it is everyone problem. We must act to clean the cigarette butts before it becomes more damaging.
Both chewing gum and cigarettes are large problems that are easily solved. They are caused by people’s un-responsibility by not taking care of their mess. The community should start considering gum and cigarette butts as litter. People litter because they think it is ok, is not going to affect much in the environment and in the society and there are no consequences. Recycling and throwing away gum and cigarette is an easy way to save the environment compared to saving gas and resources. The solutions to prevent gum and cigarette butts are to create situation that will make people throw them away and to volunteer to clean up the community. Cities can change by cleaning up the chewing gum and cigarette butts to make a better place where people live happier and save the environment.
Works Cited
Barron, James. “A New Weapon Is Added To Battle Gum and Graffiti” New York Times: New York, N.Y. 11 October 1994.
]Chasin, Robert, Recycle Media Corp, 29 January, 2007; 27 April 2008 <http://www.recyclemedia.com/>.
“Fighting pollution is everyone’s responsibility”. Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA; 9 January 2008.
McLaren, Warren, “Cigarette Butts: One Huge Problem, Two Solutions” 20 October 2005; 27 April 2008. <www.treehugger.com>.
Pasmant, Mario “Chewing Gum Litter”, 28 March 2008.
Works Consulted
Barron, James. “A New Weapon Is Added To Battle Gum and Graffiti” New York Times: New York, N.Y. 11 October 1994.
Ben Steverman, Staff Writer. “Organics recycling takes hold, cutting waste in Wayzata :[METRO Edition]. ” Star Tribune [Minneapolis, Minn.] 1 Jun 2005.
Chasin, Robert. Recycle Media Crop, 29 January 2008; 27 April 2008, <http://www.recyclemedia.com>.
Darrin Youker. “State cleans up after messy Berks: PennDOT spends more than $373,000 a year picking up after motorists who toss plastic bags, food wrappers, cigarette butts and soda bottles along highways. ” McClatchy – Tribune Business News 17 April 2008.
“Energetic Protector of the Environment” The Ledger Lakeland, Fla. 22 April 2008.
“Fighting pollution is everyone’s responsibility”. Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA; 9 January 2008.
“Gummy Bins” <http://www.gummybin.com/>.
McLaren, Warren. “Cigarette Butts. One Huge Problem, Two Solution” 20 October 2005; 27 April 2008, <www.treehugger.com>.
Pasmant, Mario “Chewing Gum Litter”, 28 March 2008.
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