A GRANT of more than £18,000 is being used to tackle a sticky problem on Teignbridge streets. 

Cash from the Chewing Gum Task Force, will help Teignbridge Council clear gum from pavements and reduce gum littering. 

The council is one of 54 authorities to have successfully applied for funding from the task force, now in its third year, and has received £18,297 to clean gum off pavements alongside targeted signage to prevent further littering. 

Cllr Peter Williams, executive member for recycling, household waste and environmental health, said:

‘Carelessly discarded chewing gum is a major headache for residents, businesses and the council. 

‘It destroys clothes and shoes, presents a serious hazard to wildlife and can blight the appearance of a neighbourhood.

‘A piece of chewing gum costs about three pence to produce, but the removal cost is about 10p. And when you consider the vast majority – more than 80per cent - of gum is not disposed of properly, this is an enormous cost to society and the taxpayer.  

‘We’re pleased to be partnering with the Chewing Gum Task Force to encourage residents and visitors  to bin their chewing gum litter in the right way and keep our streets gum-free.’

Established by 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 to clean up gum 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, with an investment of up to £10 million over five years. 

Monitoring and evaluation has shown that in 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 is about £7 million.

By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 60per cent in the first two months.