News — RecycledPlastic
French design students Hugo Maupetit and Vivian Fischer have developed a method for collecting discarded chewing gum and turning it into colourful, recycled plastic skateboard wheels.
Design RecycledPlastic Skateboarding StudentProjects SustainableDesign
The students installed special collection boards in urban areas of Nantes, France, where passersby could stick their used gum rather than dropping it on the floor. Passersby stick their gum to public collection boards The gum was then collected every week before the gum was ground together with the collection board itself, which is made from polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plastic. The PMMA helps to stabilise the chewing gum as it is melted together and machined into wheels. "During our test phases we needed between 10 and 30 chewing gums per wheel, depending on the size of the gum and the...