Post by @madegooduk

The problem with chewing gum: the "gum base" on a standard packet is a synthetic plastic made from oil, the same type used in car tyres, glue and sealants. UK labelling law lets them bundle all of it under those two words, so the packet never has to tell you what you're chewing. And because it's synthetic it doesn't biodegrade, which is why spat-out gum sits on pavements for years and costs UK councils around £7m a year to scrape off. Keep Britain Tidy reckon around three-quarters of England's streets are stained with it. Happy with that? Genuinely, keep buying it. Nobody needs a lecture at the till. If you're not, the swap is Nuud, £1.50 for 9 pieces, about 17p a piece, on the Waitrose shelf. The gum base is chicle, a natural tree sap, so it's plant-based and plastic-free. Certified B Corp, approved by the Oral Health Foundation (the first plastic-free gum they ever approved), Vegan Society trademark, and the box is cardboard with no plastic wrapper. For comparison, a standard 10-piece packet of Extra or Airwaves is around 80p, about 8p a piece. So Nuud is roughly double per chew, but it isn't plastic, and neither is the box. The other plant-based ones, and where to find them: Milliways is in the big supermarkets, about £1 to £1.25 for a 30-piece pack. True Gum is around £2.50 at Holland & Barrett. Chewsy is online and in refill shops. All plant-based, all plastic-free. The rule for the gum aisle: if the ingredients just say "gum base", that's the synthetic stuff. Look for chicle or plant-based. Prices are approximate (Waitrose, Tesco and H&B, July 2026) and vary by shop and offer. The full breakdown, with the label checks and the price cheat sheet, is in our Day 36 chewing gum video. #sustainableswaps #ecoswaps #plasticfreeswaps #chewinggum #madegood