A grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, will help 艾叉A片 County Borough Council clean up gum and reduce gum littering.
艾叉A片 County Borough Council is putting plans in place to remove the chewing gum that blights local streets after receiving a 拢27,500 grant to tackle the issue.
The council is one of 54 across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its third year, for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered again.
Established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme is open to councils across the UK who wish to clean up gum in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped in the first place.
The Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with an investment of up to 拢10 million spread over five years.
Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change 鈥� a not-for-profit social enterprise - has shown that in areas that benefitted from the first year of funding, a reduced rate of gum littering was still being observed six months after clean-up and the installation of prevention materials.
Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around 拢7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England鈥檚 streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.
In its second year the task force awarded 55 councils a total of 拢1.56 million, helping clean an estimated 440,000 m2 of pavement - an area equivalent to the Vatican City.
By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 60% in the first two months.
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Place and Environment Councillor Helen Cunningham said: 鈥淲e welcome the support from the Chewing Gum Task Force. This funding will enable us to tackle gum litter problems in our town centres. Strategically placed signage will help raise awareness about the impact of gum litter on our environment to help us create a cleaner, gum-free high street for both residents and visitors to the borough.鈥�
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy鈥檚 chief executive, said: 鈥淐hewing 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.
鈥淗owever, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it鈥檚 gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be 鈥� in the bin 鈥� and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force鈥檚 work is so important.鈥�