A grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, will help Rushmoor Borough Council to keep some of its streets clear of discarded gum and to reduce gum littering.
After a successful campaign in Aldershot town centre last year, this summer the council is putting plans in place to remove the chewing gum that blights the streets in Farnborough town centre, after receiving a grant of £17,300 to tackle the issue.
The council is one of 52 across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its fourth year, for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered again.
Established by Defra (the 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 £10 million spread over five years.
Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change – a not-for-profit social enterprise - has shown that in areas that benefitted from the first and second year of funding, a reduced rate of gum littering of up to 80% was seen in the first two months - with reductions still being observed six months after targeted street cleansing and the installation of specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum.
Rushmoor Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Pride in Place and Neighbourhood Services, Councillor Christine Guinness, said: “This is going to make a real difference to Farnborough town centre.
“We know that to make a long-lasting impact it will be important to combine street cleaning with positive messaging that encourages everyone to dispose of their gum properly.
“We'll also be keeping a close watch on the cleaned areas to ensure they stay tidy.”
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 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.
In its third year the Task Force awarded 54 councils grants worth a total of £1.585 million, helping clean an estimated 500,000 square metres of pavements.
Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, said: “Chewing gum continues to be an unsightly form of litter in our public spaces – though thankfully the scheme is leading to significant reductions. People need to remember that disposing irresponsibly of their gum causes harm to our environment as it takes years to decompose naturally – and, ultimately, costs the public purse to clean it up.”
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