Ever notice all those black spots on the sidewalk, especially in front of public buildings? Those are gum wads, discarded after all the sweetness and flavor have been chewed out of them.
Some gum chewers, like some cigarette smokers, seem to think it’s OK to throw their waste on the ground.
(Special to the Capital Times by Richard Hartel, a professor of food engineering in the UW-Madison Department of Food Science)