A non-stick chewing gum has been invented that may solve the multimillion-pound problem of removing unsightly deposits from pavements.

Researchers developed the gum by manufacturing a water and oil-loving copolymer that they added to the ingredients. This changed the gum’s properties so that a layer of water or oil formed around its edges, making it harder to attach itself to surfaces.

The gum, given the working name Rev7 by its creators at the University of Bristol, is expected to go on sale early next year.

Professor Terence Cosgrove, who led the research, announced the invention at the York conference. “I’m sure you have all sat in the cinema or sat in someone’s car and your hands have wandered and found a disgusting, sticky mess under the seat that’s somebody else’s chewing gum. It’s a very unpleasant thing,” he said. “We walk down every high street in the country and find it stuck on pavements.” The new gum surmounted the problem, he said, and could be removed easily from most shoes, clothes, pavements and even hair. Tests carried out showed that when the gum, having been chewed for 20 minutes by volunteers, was stuck on to paved surfaces it disappeared within 24 hours. Most samples of conventional brands were still stuck to the pavementmore than a week later.

In test tubes of water, the non-stick gum broke down into a white powder that would disperse in the wind.

Local authorities spend up to £150 million each year trying to clean gum from pavements and other surfaces. The non-stick gum comes in mint and lemon flavours and researchers are working on a nicotine version.

It is undergoing European food standards analysis to ensure that it meets consumer safety requirements and was developed by Revolymer, a commercial offshoot of Bristol University.

The breakthrough was welcomed by Leith Penny, the director of environment and leisure at Westminister Council in London which spends £100,000 every year on cleaning gum from pavements. “Non-stick chewing gum could revolutionise how we address this scourge,” he said.

Pavement blight

3p average cost of a piece of gum
10p average cost to remove each gum blob from a pavement
100C temperature of water used for high-pressure jet in removal
300,000 Number of blobs of gum removed from Oxford Street in recent clean-up
£100,000 price of removing gum in Westminster annually

Source: Westminster City Council

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