Why a chewing gum dropped off on the floor constitutes a public nuisance? How could we solve this problem

Résumé du document

Ecology is today a very important subject in our lifestyle, in the context of sustainability.

Pollution has become a scourge and we must find solutions to counter it, but there is one type that doesn't have real and durable solution: the one caused by chewing gum. Chewing gum is present on many streets, on pavements, that is very annoying and damages the beauty of many places.

Our approach consists of learning how we can efficiently fight against chewing-gum pollution. We will see in the first part the effects of this pollution. Then, we will look for solutions to eliminate the gum pollution with examples of French and English cities which have worked on it. The problem of objectivity regarding cleanliness is also tackled: a street can be considered as dirty by certain people, but clean for others. And chewing gum, in comparison with other urban pollutions, such as dog "droppings", rubbish and cigarette butts, do not disturb the pedestrian traffic.

Extraits

[...] However, no effective response was been found to deal with the scourge of thousands of discarded chewing gum on thrown on the floor before the mayor, Jean-Louis Fousseret visited the United Kingdom city linked with Besançon: Huddersfield Besançon's approach to strike the problem: In continuation of a strong focus based on awareness, accountability and civic reminder, the City of Besançon just equipped 27 bins of the Main Street bins bearing a block of 15 posters on which Besançon's citizens can stick their chewing gum. This device, called “METS LA GUM SUR LA PROPRETE (think about cleanliness)” offers chewing-gum users a playful way to get rid off their chewing gums. Five models to grab chewing gums with their messages are supporting this campaign (images below). On November 1st signs were set up Realizing and maintenance: The 27 signs were designed and manufactured by the municipals services, Locksmith Services Building and Roads and Clean services having contributed to this project. [...]

[...] Only the communication could develop the using of bins. We are asking the question to do the communication ourselves with the “executive students” or buy someone else. Peripheral information on the anti-chewing-gum project To build this project, we passed through several steps: The idea, the research and the gathering of information on similar projects, the contact of cities and places where those projects were led and at least the contact with Nantes, the presentation of the project and the action during the "Semaine Evènement ISEG". [...]

[...] We looked for in France, the companies able to build anti gum system but Besançon city could not advise us and we did not find another solutions. The last think we can do is to import gummy bins from England. There, the gummy bins market is developed since the law which forbids smoking in the public places. Many company like Gummybin, Straight or Direct gumbins sell colour boxes for indoor or out door. The cost: The city of Besançon installed 27 panels. [...]

[...] And chewing gum, in comparison with other urban pollutions, such as dog "droppings", rubbish and cigarette butts, does not disturb the pedestrian traffic. Thus, it is invisible for many people. Indeed, when we focus on the aspect of a street, we first think about others pollutions. We realized it when we took photos of the city of Nantes: a street that has been refurbished in 2006 such as the rue de Strasbourg already bears the considerable presence of chewing gums. That's only when we stare at this contamination that we can observe all the black stains. [...]

[...] Indeed, Besançon, a French city located in the east part of the country was the first city to think about this problem. The idea is recent, indeed Besançon the French precursor decided to strive about this new king of pollution during summer 2007. Besançon's mayor, during a visit in a city in the United Kingdom has been interested about a concept already set up there to strike about the environmental problem. Why did Besançon's mayor wanted to set up the concept in his city? [...]