Report has it that if you swallow chewing gum, it will remain lodged in your gut for 7 years– a bezoar minus the magical poison-curing residential or commercial properties. That doesnt mean you have license to swallow your gum willy-nilly– or spit it on the ground, for that matter.
Due to the fact that of a question that came up in the remarks of a recent post about how to understand if youre an asshole, this subject is on my mind. A reader wondered if their partner was right in ragging on them for spitting gum on the ground, since whats the harm? Its eco-friendly, after all. Except it isnt.
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We put it in our mouths, but it isnt food– gum is made from an artificial product called polyisobutylene, which is likewise used to make inner-tubes. It does not break down in your stomach, and it doesnt break down in the environment. As How Stuff Works put it, “when gum is made, it is gum permanently.”.
Wrap it up.
The only method you should ever dispose of gum is to put it into the trash. Sure, it will being in a landfill permanently– with all of our other non-biodegradable crap– but a minimum of you wont be ruining the environment or killing a bird when you do it.
Beyond the matter of beautification, gum is bad news for birds; if they ingest it, it can be fatal– which isnt great thinking about bird populations are already diminishing quickly across North America.
But dont swallow it either.
Thats spitting it on the street. Why cant you swallow it? While its real that it wont lodge in your stomach, that suggests it will come out, undigested, in your poop. And poop-covered gum is, you thought it, still gum. Presuming it does not build up and result in an obstruction in your own pipes (leading to a significant repair costs), it can take a trip to your local sewage treatment plant, where it can truly, er, gum up the works. Due to the fact that it doesnt liquify in water, gum can stick to anything else thats mixed in with the remainder of the sewage, contributing to the formation of those evocatively called “fatbergs” that cause numerous headaches for local municipalities. Gum can even make it into the waterways and ultimately the ocean, where it contaminates much like any other micro-plastic.
That doesnt imply you have license to swallow your gum willy-nilly– or spit it on the ground, for that matter. We put it in our mouths, but it isnt food– gum is made from a synthetic material called polyisobutylene, which is also utilized to make inner-tubes. As How Stuff Works put it, “when gum is made, it is gum permanently.”.
Do not spit it out.
Americans chew a honestly outrageous quantity of gum every year– around 300 sticks on average, our churning jaws powering a worldwide industry worth $19 billion. Believe of gum like disposed of plastic: difficult or challenging to recycle, and likely to be sitting around for a long time wherever it lands. Thats residue from old gum.
Modern gums are made from artificial polymers, synthetic and basically plastic rubber– and they are non-biodegradable. … Gum was as soon as made from natural compounds, which microbes might help biodegrade.
Photo: karen roach (Shutterstock).
Modern gums are made from artificial polymers, basically plastic and synthetic rubber– and they are non-biodegradable. And poop-covered gum is, you thought it, still gum.
