Britons have been left baffled after discovering the bizarre ingredients that go into making chewing gum.
A Daily Mail article reports that many people are surprised to learn that modern chewing gum is primarily made of plastic, specifically a "gum base" consisting of food-grade plastic polymers, waxes, and softeners. Previously, gum was made from chicle, the sap of the Sapodilla tree. The UK is a large consumer of chewing gum, and discarded gum costs councils millions to remove. One UK company, Nuud, uses chicle, while scientists are exploring corn zein as alternatives to plastic. Research suggests that chewing gum production creates millions of tons of microplastics annually.
