Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
Non-sticky, biodegradable chewing gum for a cleaner environment
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Tech
  • News & Analysis
  • Non-sticky, biodegradable chewing gum for a cleaner environment

Non-sticky, biodegradable chewing gum for a cleaner environment

FP Archives • October 12, 2012, 11:36:20 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

A biodegradable, non-stick gum made of “natural plastic” were some of the products on display at the just-concluded 2012 Green Solutions Forum.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
Non-sticky, biodegradable chewing gum for a cleaner environment

Mexico City: A biodegradable, non-stick gum that won’t sully sidewalks and trash cans made of “natural plastic” were some of the products on display at the just-concluded 2012 Green Solutions Forum, held in the Mexican capital to seek ways of combating climate change.

“Traditional chewing gum (varieties) are petroleum-derived polymers. You throw them on the sidewalk and they stick,” Gerardo Ramirez, representative of Consorcio Chiclero, a group comprising dozens of cooperatives that extract gum from the Mexican rainforest said.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

[caption id=“attachment_488410” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] ![](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/RTR2OSZJ.jpg "A child blows a bubble gum as he attends a donation of baseball equipments organized by Homerun hopefuls in Santo Domingo") Representative image. Reuters[/caption]

Biodegradable gum, by contrast, “gradually disintegrates” under identical environmental conditions, he said.

Consorcio Chiclero was one of more than 100 organisations that took part in the forum, where public and private sector firms, experts and academics showcased their initiatives to combat climate change and promote economic development.

More from News & Analysis
What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Only two percent of chewing gums currently consumed worldwide is of natural origin, Ramirez said, noting that most varieties, in addition to being a potential eyesore in cities, contribute to an increase in the carbon footprint and greater dependence on fossil-fuel resources.

“It’s important to return to natural consumption,” said the head of Consorcio Chiclero, the coordinating body for around 50 cooperatives and chewing gum harvesters whose raw material is extracted from the chicozapote tree, which grows abundantly in the tropical forests of the southeastern Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Campeche.

He said harvesting the gum causes no environmental damage and noted that the consortium - made up of 2,000 independent gum harvesters whose ancestors were “conscientious guardians of the forest” - also carries out reforestation projects.

Although 70 percent of Consorcio Chiclero’s production is sold as raw material and just 20 percent is used to make the Chicza brand chewing gum, that product is currently being exported to more than 15 countries and the ultimate goal is to dedicate all production to that end.

Another product showcased at the green forum was a garbage can made of sugarcane, an eco-friendly product whose manufacture reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 85 percent, said Renaud Miniaou, the Plastic Omnium firm’s commercial manager for northern Mexico.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

“Instead of a making a petroleum based (product), we plant sugarcane in Brazil, transform it into ethanol, later into polymer and then into plant-based polyethylene that is injected into the molds used for traditional trash cans,” he said.

Demand has exceeded expectations since the product was first marketed in late 2011, according to Miniaou, who said the material’s technical characteristics are identical to fossil-based plastic but it does not contain petroleum, is renewable and is eco-friendly.

“The challenge was to make a product identical to what we traditionally had and eventually the research team pulled it off, since this product has the same technical and physical characteristics as our other containers,” he said.

The forum, which ended Wednesday, also was a showcase for academic projects such as eco-friendly bricks and tiles presented by a group of students from the Carlos Carrillo high school in the Gulf coast city of Veracruz.

Using mud and recycled paper, those students developed a new construction material designed to meet the needs of low-income families.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

“The advantage of eco-friendly tiles and bricks is that normally there are places where there’s not enough money to buy flooring, the people live on dirt floors and so we thought of a way to save paper and help these economies,” 18-year-old project advisor Silvia Eugenia Lugo said.

Distinguished attendees at this year’s forum, which was focused on sustainable urbanism and green financing, included Mexico’s Mario Molina, a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in atmospheric chemistry and Thomas Kerr of the World Economic Forum.

IANS

Tags
climate change non sticky chewing gum biodegradable eco friendly
End of Article
Written by FP Archives

see more

Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV