The first towns and cities to get government grants to clean up chewing gum from their streets have been announced. The Chewing Gum Taskforce is part of new £10million crackdown on litter.
More than 40 councills across the UK will receive grants of up to £70,000 to clean gum off pavements and put in measures to stop it being dropped in the first place. Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7 million and according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 87 per cent of England’s streets are stained with gum.
In Wales, there will be a £1.85m scheme announced to help five councils - Blaenau Gwent, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Newport and Swansea - tackle chewing gum. The funding was announced by the Welsh Government today.
Exeter, Birmingham, Sunderland, Glasgow and Belfast are among the first winners of funding, which is being supported by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "Littering blights our towns and costs taxpayers money. Working with responsible gum manufacturers, we are now giving councils extra help to clean up our cities and towns.
"This means we can double down on regenerating our high streets, boosting local economies and levelling up communities across the country."
Funding will cover:
- Grants of up £20,000 for councils including Leicester, Hull, Croydon, Southend, Lewisham and Colchester to purchase cleaning equipment as well as receiving signage to warn people not to litter gum - previous pilots run by Mars Wrigley and not-for-profit Behaviour Change using this signage have reduced gum littering by up to 64%.
- Long-term monitoring of gum litter levels and the effects of intervention for four councils including Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow and Newport.
- £70,000 for several council partnerships - including Bury and Bolton, Camden and Brent, and Nottingham and Derby.
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: "This is an exciting new opportunity for councils to tackle the ongoing problem of gum pollution. The grants will allow councils to clean up historic gum litter staining in our towns and cities, as well as taking action to prevent people littering in the first place."
