For years, Tom Raviv thought he was being cautious about what he put in his physique. Working lengthy hours in mergers and acquisitions, he’d learn the elements on snack or protein bar wrappers as he grabbed them between conferences. One product, nevertheless, escaped his scrutiny totally.
“I’d seize a pack of gum on the checkout, run again to my desk, and by no means as soon as thought of what I used to be really chewing on,” mentioned Raviv in a current interview with The Spoon.
That modified someday when a easy query stopped him brief: Why did he spend a lot time studying about elements within the meals he eats however by no means as soon as think about what goes into gum? What he discovered when he googled it shocked him; the first ingredient in most chewing gum, listed vaguely as “gum base,” is created from petroleum-derived plastics and polymers, the identical supplies used to make plastic luggage and bottles. In line with some tutorial research, as much as 250 thousand microplastics may be present in a single piece of gum.
“I used to be actually shocked,” Raviv mentioned. “I didn’t need to be chewing on plastic and realized the stuff have to be going into my physique.”
That second of realization ultimately led Raviv to discovered Milliways in 2021. On the time, he was nonetheless at his day job, so he burned the midnight oil on weekends and nights. As he tried to determine the way to make a plastic-free gum, his residence became a makeshift R&D lab.
At one level, a provider shipped him a kilo of pure tree sap, the normal chewing materials used centuries in the past. Ultimately, Raviv discovered companions who may assist him translate that uncooked materials into a contemporary gum product, and shortly he had his first product: a plastic gum created from plant-based tree sap, containing not more than seven naturally derived elements.
Milliways and Raviv are usually not alone of their effort to boost consciousness of plastic in gum, the well being implications of which have come beneath scientific scrutiny lately. A peer-reviewed examine printed within the Journal of Hazardous Supplies discovered that chewing gum can launch important portions of microplastics and nanoplastics into saliva throughout chewing. For Raviv, the findings reinforce what he already believed.
“If you’re chewing one thing created from plastic and grinding it down in your mouth, it’s no shock you’re ingesting it,” mentioned Raviv. “It’s like chewing on a plastic straw. It doesn’t simply disappear.”
However Raviv and others imagine that the bigger subject is transparency, notably round labeling. ic If folks knew chewing gum equals plastic, he argues, most wouldn’t select it.
That message seems to be resonating. This month, Milliways introduced a $3 million funding spherical led by former senior executives from the worldwide gum business, together with Mehmet Yüksek, former CEO of Perfetti Van Melle North America, and Leon Amram, former proprietor of Intergum. Since launching within the U.S. simply over a yr in the past, the model has expanded into greater than 2,000 shops nationwide.
For Raviv, his firm’s momentum confirms his perception that even small, recurring decisions matter.
“It’s not at all times the massive modifications,” he mentioned. “Typically it’s the little belongings you do daily. These issues add up, for higher or worse.”
You possibly can watch my full interview with Tom beneath:
