Funding announced to clear chewing gum off streets

The government has announced funding for councils to remove chewing gum off the streets.

More than 40 councils across the UK have been awarded grants of up to £70,000.

The funding is part of the Government's new Chewing Gum Task Force, with Exeter, Birmingham, Sunderland, Swansea, Glasgow and Belfast among the first recipients.

The Task Force was established by Defra and is run by Keep Britain Tidy, with the aim of cleaning gum off pavements and establishing measures to stop it being dropped in the first place.

According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 87 per cent of English streets have gum stains. It is estimated that the annual clean up of chewing gum costs councils around £7 million.

The funding comes from a package worth up to £10 million, spread over five years, from gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle.

The funding will be used to purchase cleaning equipment and to put up signage to warn people not to drop gum. Previous pilots have indicated that signage can reduce gum littering by 64 per cent.

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."

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."

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