猜猜胶底运动鞋是什么做的

Take a guess what Gumshoes are made of

猜猜胶底运动鞋是什么做的

In the natural environment, it takes gum between 20 to 25 years to biodegrade. Surprised? So was I. (And for the same reason, don't swallow your gum.)

在自然环境中，口香糖需要20到25年才能被生物降解。惊讶吗?我也是(出于同样的原因，不要吞下你的口香糖)。

Gum is made from a synthetic rubber, so it makes that it can be broken down to create rubber soles for sneakers. (Photo: Snapshot from YouTube)

But whether people know how long it persists or not, a lot of it still ends up on city streets — not to mention the underside of subway seats. But the city of Amsterdam is turning the scourge of used gum to its advantage: They're collecting the stuff that sticks to your soles to create more soles for shoes, in a wonderful example of sustainable design thinking.

但不管人们是否知道它能持续多久，很多垃圾还是会出现在城市的街道上，更不用说地铁座位的底部了。不过，阿姆斯特丹市正在把用过的口香糖变成它的优势:他们正在收集粘在鞋底上的东西来制造更多的鞋底，这是可持续设计思想的一个绝佳例子。

Special teams work throughout the city of Amsterdam to pick up gum from the streets. It turns out that gum is the second most common litter after cigarette butts in the capital city of The Netherlands. After being collected, the gum is processed into the soles of the new sneakers.

专门的团队在整个阿姆斯特丹市内工作，从街上捡口香糖。结果发现，在荷兰首都，口香糖是仅次于烟头的第二常见垃圾。收集后，口香糖被加工成新运动鞋的鞋底。

"We discovered that gum was made from synthetic rubber, and by breaking down these properties, we were able to create a new type of rubber," said Anna Bullus, the designer of the sneakers.

“我们发现口香糖是由合成橡胶制成的，通过分解这些特性，我们能够创造出一种新型橡胶，”这款运动鞋的设计师安娜·布尔斯说。

About 2.2 pounds of gum are needed for every four pairs of sneakers. With 3.3 million pounds of gum deposited on city streets each year, there's plenty to work with.

每四双运动鞋大约需要2.2磅的口香糖。每年有330万磅口香糖堆积在城市街道上，有很多地方需要处理。

The goal is part creative recycling project, and the tagline for the shoe ("for the sole purpose of clean streets") reveals the second aim: a public-awareness campaign about littering. It's a subtle, high-design way of getting people to pitch their used chew in the trash.

这个目标是创意回收项目的一部分，而这双鞋的标语(“清洁街道的唯一目的”)揭示了第二个目标:一场关于乱丢垃圾的公众意识运动。这是一个微妙的，高设计的方式，让人们把他们用过的咀嚼垃圾扔进垃圾桶。

Available in bubblegum pink (naturally) as well as black, the sneakers pair leather uppers with the gummy soles. They'll be available in June for about $230, which is a small price to pay for shoes that you can step on gum with — and do your part to clean the streets.

泡泡糖粉红色(自然)以及黑色的运动鞋对皮革鞋面与胶粘的鞋底已经生产出来了。这款鞋将于今年6月上市，售价约为230美元，与你用来踩口香糖的鞋相比，这个价格实在是太低了，而且你还得尽自己的一份力来清扫街道。