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Waste Diversion Elevated Enviro Ratings:

Wrigley's 5 Gum

In this video we review the product Wrigley's 5 Gum and give it an Elevated Enviro Rating. We rate products on their sustainability specifically their waste diversion ability; reduce, reuse, recycle and consumer use. This is how 5 Gum stacked up.

The product is wrapped in a plastic shrink wrap material. This material is typically made of a low quality plastic and can not be recycled. If it was made of a higher quality plastic it would still be difficult to recycle due to its small size. The small size lends it to being missed in the sorting process at recycling facilities. 

The case of the product is made of a paper/cardboard material and is, luckily, 100 percent recyclable. There is a large flap that extends the back of the product. This flap seems excessive and could be reduced in size.

The largest set back with this product is the foil wrapper the actual gum is wrapped in. The wrapper is foil on the front and paper inside. This combination of foil and paper render this material  non-recyclable. The reason is that to recycle the gum wrap you would have to separate the foil and paper. This is very difficult and can't be done in most cases. As a result this product has to be landfilled. 

The actual gum itself is a food product and can be composted if expired or after use.

The shrink wrap, the excess packaging and the foil contribute to giving this a product a Elevated Enviro Rating of 1.8 out of 5.

Using a sticker to seal the product or identifying the plastic quality, reducing the flap size and using a paper wrapper would bring this product to a higher score.