WORK to tackle chewing gum littering in Bath and North East Somerset will be stepped up following a successful grant application.

Bath & North East Somerset Council has been awarded £8.5k from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, to help tackle the issue of chewing gum on the streets.

The funding will be used to buy an additional gum removal machine and for targeted gum removal in Keynsham, Bath, Twerton High Street and Midsomer Norton. Following the removal, new signs will be installed encouraging people to bin their gum and the areas will be monitored.

Councillor 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.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, 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 Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with an investment of up to £10 million spread over five years.

Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change – a not-for-profit social enterprise - has shown that in areas that benefitted from the 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 in the UK is around £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

In its second year the task force awarded 55 councils a total of £1.56 million, helping clean an estimated 440,000m² of pavement.

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 60% in the first two months.