The North East is to receive over £69,000 in funding to clean up chewing gum from the streets.
Three of the region's councils will be among 56 councils across the UK to receive funding totalling more than £1.2m from the Chewing Gum Task Force to target chewing gum stains.
Launched in 2021, the Task Force was established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and is administered by the charity Keep Britain Tidy, with funding provided by gum producers. It aims to clean gum off pavements and put measures in place to stop it being dropped in the first place, helping to clamp down on anti-social littering.
Newcastle, Sunderland and North Tyneside Councils will each benefit from the funding, with two receiving the top grant of £25,000. 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.
The Chewing Gum Task Force brings together some of the country's major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle. Together, the producers have pledged up to £10m over five years via the scheme to tackle gum littering.
Newcastle City Council and Sunderland City Council will both receive £25,000 and North Tyneside Council will receive £19,045.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: "Littering blights our communities, spoils our countryside, harms our wildlife and wastes taxpayers' money when cleaning it up. That's why we're working with gum producers to tackle chewing gum stains. After the success of the first round of funding, this next slice will give councils further support to clean up our towns and cities."
In its first year the task force awarded 44 grants worth a total of £1.2m, benefitting 53 councils who were able to clean an estimated 2.5km2 of pavement, an area larger than 467 football pitches. Individual councils received grants of up to £20,000 to fund street cleaning and the purchase of cleansing equipment, while larger grants of up to £70,000 were available to two or more councils working together to achieve a greater impact.
By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signs to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 80% in the first two months. Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change has shown that a reduced rate of gum littering is still being observed six months after clean-up and the installation of prevention materials.
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy's chief executive, said: "Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean up, so the support for councils provided by the Chewing Gum Task Force and the gum manufacturers is very welcome.
"However, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it's gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be – in the bin – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important."
The councils to benefit from the second round of funding are:
| Newark and Sherwood | £14,347.20 |
| North Tyneside Council | £19,045.00 |
| London Borough of Hackney | £10,130.00 |
| Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Sevenoaks District Council | £25,000.00 |
| Rushcliffe Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| London Borough of Waltham Forest | £25,000.00 |
| East Cambridgeshire District Council | £24,981.00 |
| Liverpool City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Manchester City Council | £19,280.00 |
| North Devon Council | £11,000.00 |
| Sunderland City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Leeds City Council | £24,995.00 |
| Braintree District Council | £25,000.00 |
| London Borough of Newham | £25,000.00 |
| Tewkesbury Borough Council | £9,971.00 |
| Canterbury City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Southend-on-Sea City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Stoke-on-Trent City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Colchester City Council | £21,856.00 |
| Blackpool Council | £25,000.00 |
| Haringey Council | £25,000.00 |
| City of London Corporation | £25,000.00 |
| Ipswich Borough Council | £21,214.00 |
| City of Doncaster Council | £22,850.00 |
| Redbridge Council | £25,000.00 |
| Cumberland Council | £25,000.00 |
| Middlesbrough Council | £24,969.00 |
| Lewes District Council | £25,000.00 |
| Newcastle City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Pendle Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Milton Keynes City Council | £22,000.00 |
| Wiltshire Council | £25,000.00 |
| Wirral Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Oxford City Council | £24,960.00 |
| London Borough of Lambeth | £16,420.00 |
| Ealing Council | £25,000.00 |
| Warrington | £10,435.00 |
| Wigan Council | £15,954.80 |
| Cardiff Council | £25,000.00 |
| Newport City Council | £25,000.00 |
| Cyngor Gwynedd | £21,525.00 |
| Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Bridgend County Borough Council | £12,456.00 |
| Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Vale of Glamorgan Council | £8,959.00 |
| Mid and East Antrim Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council | £15,907.00 |
| Fermanagh and Omagh District Council | £25,000.00 |
| Derry City and Strabane District Council | £12,000.00 |
| Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council | £25,000.00 |
| Mid Ulster District Council | £25,000.00 |
| South Lanarkshire Council | £24,614.00 |
| South Ayrshire Council | £25,000.00 |
Naomi Jones, corporate affairs director at Mars Wrigley UK, said: "We're pleased to be supporting the work of the Chewing Gum Task Force again this year. While the majority of consumers already bin their used gum properly, we know there’s still work to be done to change the behaviour of people who are disposing of their gum irresponsibly.
"In its first year, the Task Force's work saw 2.5km2 cleaned in council areas around the country. Behaviour change interventions achieved chewing gum litter reductions of up to 80%. This year, we’ll be to be funding and partnering with another 56 councils, across the four nations, in 2023."
