Chewing gum that doesn’t stick is here at last, meaning no more grisly lumps stuck to the bottom of your shoe, the seat of your jeans or, best of all, mangled into your hair.
British scientists have designed Rev7, the first non-stick gum, which can be washed from clothes with soap and water, removed from the streets with conventional street cleaning and will biodegrade if it’s washed into drains.
The gum claims to keep its traditional taste and texture and will come in spearmint and peppermint flavours. Rev7 has gone on sale in the US and will soon be launched in the UK.
The Government spends £150 million each year removing chewing gum from the streets, which makes the £10million grant given to Bristol University to come up with a solution a mere snip.
After three years research, the team of concocted the new chewing gum which contains a special polymer, making it far less sticky. This replaces the synthetic latex used in normal gum, which is resistant to the weather and strongly adhesive.
Since the team developed the gum, more than 1,000 pieces have been made from more than 200 different formulae to make the gum “as good a chew” as its predecessor.
Prof Terry Cosgrove said: “The motivation to invent the product came from seeing chewing gum on the streets in this country and in America. It’s everywhere.
“The team at Revolymer have done a brilliant job in making this great tasting, environmentally friendly chewing gum.”
Chewing gum is a huge problem worldwide and has been banned in some countries. If you’re discovered smuggling gum into Singapore you can face a year in jail and a £10,000 Singapore dollar fine.
