Street Deposits

[Hoffy]

Can anyone tell me what are the many white deposits on the streets of Leeds on both the pavements and the roads? No effort is ever made to remove them and clean the area.

[SirOracle]

Snow ???

[hc4361]

Chewing gum?

[Postdog]

Dogs eating chalk?

[chrissa1]

Definitely, chewing gum. Our council steam cleans the town once in a while but, they're fighting a losing battle.

[Hoffy]

O.K. Now lets be serious. Could it be bird deposit?

[hc4361]

No, Hoffy, it really is chewing gum

[hc4361]

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/chewing-gum-pavements-make-manufacturers-8171502

[chrissa1]

Describe the deposits, Hoffy. Are they slimey and thin or,thick ,and stuck to the pavements in hard blobs.

[THECORBYLOON]

It'll be chuddy and after a while it turns smooth and black with all the rubbing of pedestrians or traffic and the dirt and grime that accumulates.

[Hoffy]

The deposits are flat and stuck to the pavements and roads. They are so numerous it is quite impossible that they could be chewing gum

[chrissa1]

Are you having us on, Hoffy? They are blobs of chewing gum, honestly!! The young Great British Public just chew it and then spit it out.

[hc4361]

It really is chewing gum. It can take a very long for the blobs to go without determined cleaning by the council. It seems to become part of the pavement or road.

[hc4361]

Did you read the link I posted?

"Nearly a tonne of chewing gum was hosed off Manchester city centre streets last year in a £40,000 clean-up operation."

[pusskin]

Hoffy, it really is chewing gum, and is seen wherever we happen to walk.

[Buenchico]

>>>The deposits are flat and stuck to the pavements and roads. They are so numerous it is quite impossible that they could be chewing gum

I used to run a railway station and, as well as the work of our own cleaning staff, we had to have a specialist firm (with specialist equipment) spend an entire night, once per month, cleaning the ruddy stuff off our platforms. Where councils don't use special cleaning machines to get rid of the stuff (as some do), most busy streets will have many thousands of deposits dropped on them within a very short time.

It's definitely chewing gum!

[Jonathan-Joe]

... or chewing gum lichen http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/chewing-gum-lichen

[ivor4781]

not all chewing gum....
Chewing gum lichen - Lecanora muralis

This is common on pavements and resembles discarded chewing gum. The tough upper surface of the lichen is made up of thousands of tightly packed filaments which collect the nutrients and moisture in the air. People walking over it helps the lichen to spread. This lichen was first seen in London in 1960 and now it is found on pavements all over Britain. We have quite a lot on the paving on our patio at the back of the house, where they seem to prefer the concrete slabs to the red bricks.

[Chipchopper]

If its more concentrated outside the confectioners and around the bus stops, its a pretty good bet that it is indeed chewing gum.

[ivor4781]

yes i agree its concentrated around food shops etc but i doesn't count for the vast amount every where else its mixture of both.