Most people are unaware that most regular chewing gum is a single-use plastic. The UK consumes 4 billion pieces of plastic gum annually which breaks down into microplastics both when chewed and when disposed of. It is a public health and
environmental crisis hiding in plain sight.
Following on from an earlier blog post and a more recent article in The Conversation titled, “Chewing gum is plastic pollution – not a litter problem,” we have joined forces with other scientists and campaigners to co-author a Government Policy Briefing covering the actions that we believe need to be taken to address the current environmental crisis and the potential health issues associated with plastic in chewing gum. We hope that the UK Government will take the appropriate action in support of this briefing document.
