France Is Successfully Removing the Chewing Gum Littering the Sidewalks. It Is Used to Make... Skateboard Wheels!

You don't have to dispose of old chewing gum. You can give it a second life turning it into skateboard wheels.

Vician Fischer and Hugo Maupetit are third-grade students of a design academy in Nantes (France). As part of one of their courses they became interested in the chewing gum littering the streets in all cities. You can find it stuck to garbage cans, park benches, sidewalks or even tables and chairs in cafes and restaurants. The students decided to put an end to it and worked out a way to recycle the old chewing gum by using it to make skateboard wheels.

How can you actually collect the gum? There are plans to distribute special boards (currently tested in Nantes) where anyone can stick their chewing gum. The boards will be replaced every week and the gum will end up in a factory where it will turn into a pulp to form the wheels later on. Each of them will be labeled 'VANS x mentos' as the project is supported by the manufacturers of plants and skateboarding footwear.

Vivian Fischer and Hugo Maupetit suggested that the wheels should be of various hardness and sizes, so that they can be fixed onto a variety of boards.

The philosophy behind the project was to remove the old gum from the cities and towns. At the moment it is being tested in Nantes, but the authors hope it will catch on in places all over Europe.

What do you think about these unusual wheels?