News and events

By gum – well done Anna!

Published 27 April 2010

Former University of Brighton student Anna Bullus made national headlines with her hoped-for solution to one of Britain's biggest problems: what to do with chewing gum.

Now running her own design company, she told The Observer magazine how her invention could one day see gum turned into Wellington boots.

She has already managed to turn the yucky stuff into pink bubble recycling bins called Gumdrops, now seen on the campus of Orpington College where they are being trialled.

Anna, who studied 3D Design, won the British Council's National Design Award for 2007 with her Gumnetic Bin, as it was called.

She started researching the problem after walking through Brighton city centre and seeing all the spats of gum squished into the pavements. She told The Observer: "I suddenly realised gum is already a rubber and rubber can be recycled."

Anna spent eight months working getting the gum to make foam, turning into a pellet and then, adding a secret ingredient, she was able to extract a polymer that she calls Bullus Recycled Gum Polymer (BRGP).

That's the stuff used to make the gum recycling bins and when these are full, both bins and contents are recycled into new BRGP.

She told The Observer: "The amazing thing is you can use it for any plastic product – I'd love to make some Wellington boots, for example. Gum boots, in fact." Boots that one day could be walking on cleaner streets.

Besides improving the environment, Anna's breakthrough could save councils millions of pounds.

It costs UK councils £150m a year to high-pressure hose the gum from pavements, communal seats and walls (this in turn erodes the cement between paving blocks, which then costs councils more money.

Find out more about 3D Design and Materials Practice on the Faculty of Arts website.