Chewing gum creates 100,000 tonnes of plastic pollution, says local student

Chewing gum creates a hundred thousand tonnes of plastic pollution every year, according to a student from Rochdale.

Tom Jones, 60, a final year Business Management mature student at the University of Bolton, said: “Chewing gum is an oil-based synthetic polymer, just like plastics, and these products are not broken down by the natural processes that exist in the environment.  Plastics and synthetic rubbers last for hundreds of years.

“If chewing gum is essentially the same, exactly where have we been ‘disposing’ of our gum for the last 70 years, where has it all gone?”

People around the world have been chewing gum-like substances for thousands of years. 

The Ancient Greeks used to chew resin from the Mastic tree while the Aztecs and Mayans enjoyed chicle, a tree sap that they also used as an early form of adhesive.  Native Americans chewed the resin from spruce trees and settlers quickly picked up the habit. 

Modern gum products evolved from a chicle-based gum brought to the United States in the early 1860s. When chicle-bearing trees could not keep up with demand, manufacturers turned to synthetic gum bases to continue their business. 

The first commercial chewing gum was made and sold in 1848 with the first patent to manufacture chewing gum being awarded in December 1869. It was developed from a failed inexpensive replacement for rubber.

Tom continued: “People probably have no idea that they are chewing on what is essentially a lump of malleable plastic, and that’s not surprising. The manufacturers don’t actually tell you as much – they kind of dodge around the detail.

“I am well aware that if we examine the detail of many of the products we consume we would be quite appalled and disgusted.  I once decided to look up how my favourite chewy gelatine sweets were made, and I haven’t touched one since, but to me, this is somehow different.

“If the thought of chewing plastic is not that appealing, it is possible that at this very moment you may be frantically looking for a bin and a piece of paper to hygienically ‘dispose’ of your gum.

 “Experience of life tells me that much of it ends up underneath tables, particularly in schools and rather revoltingly, restaurants.”

Walls covered with colourful blobs of used gum have also become bizarre tourist attractions in Seattle and California, whilst the Singapore government made it illegal to chew gum in 1992, although it can be prescribed by a doctor or dentist.

According to Tom’s figures, 374 trillion sticks of gum, with a total estimated weight of 100,000 tonnes are thrown away each year.

He went on: “Unlike cigarette smoking, there have never been convenient receptacles in restaurants, bars, or airports. Without regulation, or any disposal process, the fact is that all of the gum we have ever chewed is probably still in the environment somewhere: 100,000 tonnes of plastic pollution being thrown into the environment every year.”

Keep Britain Tidy, which wants to see gum litter eradicated by 2030, says it costs 10p to remove each piece of gum from the streets, more than the gum costs in the first place.

However, some measures are taking place to tackle one of the most common forms of litter.

Earlier this year, British designer Anna Bullus hit headlines with her innovative bright pink ‘Gumdrop’ bins, designed to collect used gum. It is then recyled into a material that can be used in existing manufacturing processes.

Tom continued: “It is estimated that in the next five years, over one million metric tonnes of chewing gum will be produced, chewed and thrown away – totally unregulated and without anyone really knowing what the implications are.  Clearly something needs to be done.

“I am not saying it should be made illegal, but it does need to be regulated. This is a product where the manufacturers should not ignore their responsibilities: they should explain to consumers what they are really buying and consider the environmental impact that their product is having and do something about it.

He concluded: “I hate to think about the amount of ‘gum’ that has found its way into the environment since this habit became popular.

“Throwing away the non-disposable, inorganic products of our 21st century lifestyle cannot continue, and chewing gum is no different to any other form of plastic pollution.”

Since the 1950s, approximately 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic have been produced. Of this, just 9% is recycled, with an eye-opening 79% having been thrown away.

The rest is incinerated, and it is estimated by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish on the planet. 

Read more about the plastic crisis: 

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/120401/our-guide-to-recyclingsingleuse-plastics

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/115280/tony-lloyd-welcomes-war-on-plastic

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/115049/binning-the-plastic