Something to chew on... new bins made from gum

During the last Purple Flag assessment, the judges highlighted the amount of gum on the streets of Mullingar and Mullingar Chamber included this as an action point in their strategy for 2018.

One result is the Gumdrop bin, the first in the world designed specifically for the disposal of waste chewing gum, and also the first made with waste chewing gum.

The inner cylinder that collects the gum is made from recycled chewing gum, with three new bins being made from one full bin.

There will be 10 gum bins throughout Mullingar and Mullingar Chamber would encourage everyone who chews gum to recycle it.

Dropping chewing gum in a gumdrop bin is a small effort towards making a huge change to the town, a chamber spokesperson said.

With the development of our new enhancement areas it is so important that we keep our streets gum free, the spokesperson added.

Mullingar Chamber under a service level agreement with Westmeath County Council have launched the ‘bin gum’ initiative within the Purple Flag Evening and Night Time Economy strategy.

At the launch, Mullingar Chamber office manager Nuala-Anne Curley said:

“We are delighted to be launching this Purple Flag gum bin initiative.

“As you can see when you walk the streets of Mullingar, gum is a problem, and we hope with the introduction of these Purple Flag gum bins, people will make a conscious effort to keep our streets gum-free.

“The fact the units are made from recycled gum is also adding to Mullingar’s sustainability journey,” Ms Curley said.