More than 50 councils across the UK are to receive grants totalling more than £1.2 million to remove discarded chewing gum from the streets and prevent it from being littered again.
Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cardiff, Glasgow, Ipswich, Liverpool, Sunderland and Wiltshire are among those to benefit from the second round of funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force.
Launched in 2021, the Chewing Gum Task Force was established by Defra (Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) and is administered by the charity Keep Britain Tidy, with funding provided by gum producers. It aims to clean gum off pavements and put in measures to stop it being dropped in the first place.
According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum. The Chewing Gum Task Force brings together some of the country’s major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle. Together, the producers have pledged up to £10 million over five years via the scheme to tackle gum littering.
The latest round of funding includes grants of up to £25,000 for cleansing with a fully funded bespoke gum litter prevention package.
After the success of the first round of funding, this next slice will give councils further support to clean up our towns and cities.
Further grants of up to £25,000 for Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cardiff, Doncaster and Glasgow for the fully funded bespoke gum litter prevention package and long-term monitoring and evaluation carried out by not-for-profit social enterprise Behaviour Change.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow, commented: “Littering blights our communities, spoils our countryside, harms our wildlife and wastes taxpayers’ money when cleaning it up. That’s why we’re working with gum producers to tackle chewing gum stains.
“After the success of the first round of funding, this next slice will give councils further support to clean up our towns and cities.”
In its first year, the task force awarded 44 grants worth a total of £1.2 million to 53 councils who Keep Britain Tidy says were able to clean an estimated 2.5km2 of pavement.
By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, Keep Britain Tidy says participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 80% in the first two months.
Keep Britain Tidy says, in 2022, individual councils received grants of up to £20,000 to fund street cleaning and the purchase of cleansing equipment – larger grants of up to £70,000 were available to two or more councils that were collaborating.
Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets.
The task force was announced as part of the government’s strategy to support the regeneration of high streets across the country, which includes 15 Town Deals totalling £335 million to fund community regeneration projects, refurbishing derelict buildings and communities being given the chance to own local pubs, theatres, sports grounds and corner shops.
Speaking about the fund, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, said: “Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean up, so the support for councils provided by the Chewing Gum Task Force and the gum manufacturers is very welcome.
“However, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it’s gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be – in the bin – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important.”
