Chewing gum blight being tackled in Derry thanks to £27,500 grant
Derry City and Strabane District Council has completed a special chewing gum cleaning project after receiving funding to tackle the issue on Derry and Strabane’s streets.
Council successfully completed its work to remove the chewing gum blighting local streets after receiving a £27,500 grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force to tackle the issue earlier this year.
Keep Britain Tidy, administrator of the programme, estimates the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7m.
John Quinn, Streetscape Manager at DC&SDC, said: “Chewing gum continues to pose a challenge as a stubborn and visually unappealing form of waste in our Council area.
"While the scheme is successfully reducing occurrences, public cooperation remains essential and we need to get the message out there. Improper disposal not only causes long-term environmental damage due to its slow decomposition but also results in significant public cleaning costs. We need to encourage people to dispose of their chewing gum properly and use the bins provided.”
Funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars, Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with an investment of up to £10m spread over five years, the task force was established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and is run by Keep Britain Tidy.
A Keep Britain Tidy spokesperson 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.”