The council has announced a £27,500 grant funding boost which will help its street cleaning teams tackle the sticky issue of removing chewing gum from Aberdeen’s pavements.
The council is one of 50 across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force -, established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy - for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered in the first place.
Councillor Ian Yuill, Aberdeen City Council Co Leader, said: “I am delighted that the Council’s Chewing Gum Taskforce funding application was successful. This money will help the Council in its ongoing efforts to keep Aberdeen’s streets clean, clear of litter, and chewing gum free.
“The Council has long had teams in place to give streets deep cleans and keep them looking their best. The additional Keep Britain Tidy funding is a welcome boost to help the council achieve this.”
Now in its fifth year, 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.
In the past four years, the Task Force has awarded grants worth a total of £6.46 million, funded the cleaning of over 4.15 million square metres of pavements.
Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change – a not-for-profit social enterprise – has shown that in areas that benefitted from funding, a reduced rate of gum littering of up to 86% was seen in the first two months.
Reductions were still being observed six months after targeted street cleansing and the installation of specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum.
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, said: “While chewing gum litter remains a stubborn eyesore in our public spaces, the good news is that this scheme is already driving major improvements.
“As an environmental charity, we know that every piece of gum dropped irresponsibly damages the environment, taking years to break down naturally, while also leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for costly clean-up operations.
“Everyone in Aberdeen can play a part in creating cleaner, greener streets for all by binning their gum properly.”