Despawning items 3 seconds after they were thrown by player

PHP:

    /**
     * @param ItemSpawnEvent $event
     */
    public
    function itemSpawn ( ItemSpawnEvent $event )
    {
        $entity = $event->getEntity();
        $this->plugin->getScheduler()->scheduleDelayedTask(new ClosureTask(function (?int $currentTick) use($entity): void{
             $entity->flagForDespawn();
         }), 3 * 20);
    }

I despawn items 3 seconds after they were thrown by a player by using a delayed task but what if multiple players throw a lot of items? It'd create a lot of delayed tasks and would probably cause lag as well. How should approach this instead?

 

I dont think running a lot of task that only runs one line of code would do any harm, the items probably would cause more lag than the tasks

 

Isn't there a way to set its lifespan before getting despawned?

 

Technically you can extend ItemEntity, change the part where it checks for the time to despawn and register with override