Work to tackle chewing gum on the streets of Bath is to be stepped up following a successful grant application.
The council has been awarded £8,500 from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, to help tackle the issue of chewing gum on pavements.
The funding will be used to buy an additional gum removal machine and for targeted gum removal in Bath, in Twerton High Street and in Keynsham and Midsomer Norton.
Following the removal, new signs will be installed encouraging people to bin their gum and the areas will be monitored.
Cllr Tim Ball, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “We are grateful to Keep Britain Tidy for providing funding to help keep the streets of Bath & North East Somerset free of gum.
“Thoughtlessly discarded gum is unsightly and unacceptable and it’s difficult to remove. It also contributes to microplastic pollution as it slowly breaks into smaller pieces.
“The new signage encourages people to put their gum in the bin and help to keep our streets clean and tidy.”
The Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme was established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and is run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.
The council is one of 54 across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its third year, for funds.
The Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle.
Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7m and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.
