If you look at any street, chances are you’ll see marks of old chewing gum - and it’s probably been there for years. In fact, chewing gum is the world’s second-most-common form of litter, generating around 100,000 tonnes of global waste every year.

Waste gum can release microplastics that reach our oceans and may be consumed by marine life, eventually making their way into the food chain. The plastic polymers found in conventional gum are the same as those found in products such as car tyres and plastic bottles. This means the gum doesn’t biodegrade - so once it ends up on our streets, it can stick around for years.