Councils to receive £1.2m for chewing gum prevention

Local councils will receive new signage aimed at preventing littering from occurring initially.

Bristol, Walsall, Sunderland, and Bury are set to benefit from the third round of funding from the ‘Chewing Gum Task Force.’

Sticky Situation

Keep Britain Tidy has revealed that councils spend approximately £7 million annually to clean up littered chewing gum, with around 77% of streets in England and 99% of retail sites affected by gum stains.

The Chewing Gum Task Force, created by Defra in 2021 and managed by Keep Britain Tidy, receives funding from gum manufacturers like Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle.

These producers have committed up to £10 million over five years to combat gum littering through this initiative.

Success

The latest funding round will offer grants up to £27,500 for cleaning or purchasing cleaning equipment, along with a fully funded custom gum litter prevention package.

In its first two years, the task force distributed grants totaling about £2.5 million to nearly 100 councils across the UK.

Behavior Change, a not-for-profit social enterprise, conducted monitoring and evaluation. They found that participating councils saw a reduction in gum littering between 60% and 80% within the first two months.

Councils reported cleaning an estimated 440,000 m² of pavements, with all of them stating that the grant helped them effectively tackle gum litter.

‘Much-needed support’
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, stated: “Gum litter makes streets look dirty and neglected.

“Our research indicates that three-quarters of the sites we surveyed are marred by chewing gum stains, costing councils—and by extension, taxpayers—millions to clean.

“That’s why we’re thrilled to manage the third wave of this essential support for councils from the Chewing Gum Task Force.”

Naomi Jones, corporate affairs director at Mars Wrigley UK, added: “Mars Wrigley is proud to invest in litter prevention and education. The Task Force has already made substantial progress, supporting nearly 100 councils and cleaning close to 3 million square meters of streets.”

Hayley Osborne, communications and sustainability manager at Perfetti Van Melle, commented: “We’re seeing positive changes in our streets and community behavior. We’re eager to build on these successes in the third year.”

In 2023, an independent evaluation of the scheme was conducted in four councils—Antrim & Newtownabbey, Cardiff, Doncaster, and Glasgow. This evaluation indicated that street cleaning and subsequent prevention campaigns resulted in gum littering reductions of up to 60%.

In Leeds, a trial of a pavement coating designed to ease cleaning was monitored. While the standard intervention saw a 16% reduction in gum littering, areas treated with the coating experienced a 31% reduction, showing the coating’s effectiveness in preventing gum litter from adhering to pavements.