New fund launched to tackle chewing gum staining

Chewing gum stains on our high streets will be tackled through a brand new fund that launches in May.   To find out more, click CGTF


The Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme is open to councils across the UK who wish to clean the gum off the pavements in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped in the first place. In the first year of the scheme, more than £1.7 million has been invested by chewing gum producers. SOENECS are very proud to be supporting Keep Britain Tidy and the Taskforce with project managment.

Chewing gum litter stains the streets throughout our towns and cities, reaching up to 87% of the streets in England and wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in clean-up costs every year.

 Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: 
“This is an exciting new opportunity for councils to tackle the ongoing problem of gum pollution.  The grants will allow councils to clean up historic gum litter staining in our towns and cities, as well as taking action to prevent people littering in the first place.”  

The Chewing Gum Task Force brings together some of the country’s major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, as well as some producers of nicotine replacement therapy gum. Under the scheme, administered by independent environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the firms will invest up to £10 million over five years to help reduce chewing gum pollution.

Grants of up to £20,000 are available to individual councils in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to fund street cleansing and/or the purchase of cleaning equipment. Larger grants of up to £70,000 are available for two or more councils working together to achieve greater impact.

Councils will also benefit from a bespoke gum litter prevention package, including targeted behaviour change signage and advice to encourage people to bin their gum. Previous pilots run by Mars Wrigley and Behaviour Change using this signage have reduced gum littering by up to 64%.
 
The fund is now open to Expressions of Interest below, where councils can also find all the information they will need to apply. Formal applications will be welcomed in a two week window between Monday 9 and Monday 23 May 2022, and decisions will be announced by the end of May 2022.
 
Keep Britain Tidy will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday 26 April 2022 at 10am where councils can learn more about the fund and how to apply. Please express your interest below to register.  

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