Stay Fresh With Plastic-Free Gum
Did you know gum has plastic in it? No joke. When you pop a fresh piece of Trident or Double-Mint, you’re chewing on a piece of plastic. Throw that away and it goes into our environment where it’s then added to the millions of pieces of microplastic that enter our water stream and build up inside animals or our soil.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to gnaw on plastic. Not only does that sound unappealing and unhealthy, but avoiding plastic in gum is a small and easy way we can lower our plastic waste.
For a millennia it seems humans have had the desire to masticate - but we’ve typically used more natural ingredients. 6,000 year old gum made from birch bark tar was even found in Finland.
👉Side bar: When I was a kid growing up in Montana, my older brother told me Native Americans used to use tree sap as gum. As an early adopter to the plastic-free life (and bored kid living in the woods), of course I had to try! Word to the wise: Do not attempt unless you want your mouth to taste like pine glue for the rest of the week! It also wasn’t very chewy. Lol.
These days, we have better natural and plastic-free options. Thankfully.
Glee Gum. This one has been around for a while and is a pretty typical chicle based gum. It’s good! It has a nice peppermint flavor and not only is the gum itself newly plastic free, but the packaging is simple and plastic free as well.
Simply Gum. This is my current favorite. The flavors are really good. The gum is, well, simple. Plus, I really appreciate the thin sheet of paper it comes with to simply and cleanly dispose of the gum.
Have you tried any of these plastic-free options? Do you have a different favorite? Have you tried sap? Let me know!
