Imagine this: you’re in your most boring class, stuck at your desk, and just want to shift in your seat to get more comfortable. The last thing you want is to graze a slimy, sticky substance, but it happens. Used wads of gum belong in the garbage because they are unhygienic, messy, and difficult to get off surfaces, but gum gets stuck under desks and tables all the time. It may seem
convenient and not a big deal, but that gum ends up on someone’s pants at some point, and it very well could be you.

While leaving chewed gum on surfaces is gross, it’s also bad for the environment. According to Amit Saha Roy, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at New Alipore College, chewing gum generates more than 105 tons of “plastic” garbage each year. This pollution results from improper disposal: spitting it on the ground or sticking it on surfaces. There are trash cans readily available in almost every public space and every classroom at MHS, but if you cannot get your gum to a trash can, you will be just fine if you swallow a piece of gum every now and then.

Despite what you might have heard, swallowed gum doesn’t actually stay in your stomach for seven years and almost never causes intestinal complications. While a large build-up of swallowed gum can cause problems, it would take an absurd amount to create a blockage or damage the intestinal lining because chewed gum is excreted through human waste roughly 40 hours after consumption. Nobody wants to see or touch your chewed-up gum around school or in public, so get it in a trash can, swallow it, or stop chewing gum altogether.