Chewing gum squads get stuck in to clean up streets

‘The stains of discarded chewing gum are a blight on our communities, spoiling our streets’

AN army of chewing gum removal squads are set to hit the streets as part of a £10million taskforce aimed at cleaning up Britain’s pavements.

Major chewing gum manufacturers have agreed to help fund the units in an attempt to address the litter blighting towns, cities and villages everywhere.

It has been estimated that while each piece of gum costs around 3p to buy, it costs the taxpayer £1.50 to clean up each square metre of pavement.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has estimated that councils spend as much as £60 million a year removing gum and they have been lobbying firms to help pay towards the bill.

Now a number of those companies, including Mars Wrigley, Glaxosmithkline and Perfetti Van Melle, have agreed to invest £10million over the next five years in the project.

As well as cleaning pavements, the funding will also be used to help educate people about the importance of putting gum in a bin.

Littering, including spitting out gum, is a criminal offence and local authorities have been empowered to increase on-the-spot penalties to £150 – rising to £2,500 if convicted in a court. Rebecca Pow, environment minister, said: “The stains of discarded chewing gum are a blight on our communities, spoiling our streets and wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.

“This new scheme means chewing gum producers are not only helping to clean up towns and cities as they welcome people back to our high streets, but crucially taking action to prevent people littering in the first place.

“We are committed to building back better and greener and this commitment to making town centres a more attractive and inviting place is a key part of our long-term strategy to breathe new life into our communities.”

In the past the LGA had called for the introduction of a chewing gum tax which would have forced confectioners and manufacturers to contribute to clean-up costs.

In 2018 a cross-party motion was tabled in Parliament along with a petition, asking the Government to crack down on the “nuisance and unsightly blight imposed throughout the UK by the careless disposal of chewing gum”.

But Defra officials have successfully negotiated with some of the big firms to make a voluntary contribution to help fund the scheme.

Jonny Briscoe, managing director of Perfetti Van Melle, said: “Perfetti Van Melle is committed to help with the clean-up of Britain’s streets and to educate consumers about the importance of responsible gum disposal.”

The taskforce will be managed by the independent charity Keep Britain Tidy.