A chewing gum clean-up of streets in Haringey has proved a success following a successful bid for £27,500 of funding by the North London council earlier this year.
Haringey is one of 54 local authorities to receive a grant from Chewing Gum Task Force, which is aimed at decontaminating pavements of disguarded gum and preventing future littering.
The initiative is one of several launched by the local authority in response to feedback from their recent waste engagement.
The consultation revealed that clean streets are the second-highest priority for residents across the borough.
Cllr Seema Chandwani, Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services, says: "As always, our residents have been at the forefront of making this initiative happen.
"They share their priorities with us, collaborate on solutions, and support us in enforcement efforts.
"With support from the Chewing Gum Task Force, we’ve been able to significantly improve the cleanliness of our streets and enhance the local environment for everyone in Haringey.
We want our borough to be a place that residents are proud of and that warmly welcomes others to experience everything it has to offer.
"This investment goes beyond tackling litter; it’s about making Haringey a cleaner, safer, and more appealing place for all to enjoy.
We remain committed to building on this progress and helping our community continue to thrive."
We know this issue won’t be solved overnight, even in areas where the gum has been cleaned up, but we’re confident that with innovation, research and small behaviour changes provided through the Chewing Gum Task Force, together we can tackle this sticky issue.
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, adds: "Thankfully the majority of people who chew gum dispose of it responsibly.
But for those who don’t, cleaning gum and the resulting staining it causes off our pavements costs councils millions of pounds every year.
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 supported by leading gum manufacturers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, who have invested a total of up to £10 million 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 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 £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.
By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils last year achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 60 per cent in the first two months.
