Residents and visitors will benefit from cleaner, more welcoming streets after Colchester City Council secured £27,500 to tackle chewing gum litter across the city.
The funding, awarded through the Chewing Gum Task Force, will be used to purchase signage for hot spots and specialist cleaning equipment, including four new electric barrows. This will help our street care teams remove chewing gum more efficiently and safely transport chewing gum removal machines, while encouraging people to bin their gum responsibly. Colchester is one of 50 councils across the UK to receive funding, helping to create cleaner, more welcoming public spaces for residents, businesses and visitors.
Chewing gum litter remains a persistent problem on high streets and in town centres. As well as making public spaces look untidy, it is expensive to remove and can take years to break down. The council aims to clean key locations in the city, including Queen Street, Osborne Street, Sir Isaac's Walk, Eld Lane and more.
The Chewing Gum Task Force was established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and is administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. The programme supports councils to tackle existing gum staining while investing in long-term behaviour change to reduce littering.
The scheme is funded by major gum manufacturers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with up to £10 million being invested over five years.
Over the past four years, the Task Force has awarded £6.46 million in grants to councils across the UK, helping to clean more than 4.15 million square metres of pavement. Independent monitoring has shown that targeted cleaning and behaviour change campaigns can reduce gum littering rates by up to 86% within two months, with improvements continuing months later.
Cllr Martin Goss, Portfolio Holder for Waste, Neighbourhoods and Leisure, said: "Keeping Colchester clean and welcoming is something we all benefit from, so I'm delighted we've secured this funding to help tackle chewing gum litter across the city. Too often, gum ends up on our pavements where it creates an eyesore and costs money to clean up.
"This £27,500 grant will help us improve some of our busiest public spaces while encouraging people to think twice before dropping their gum. We all have a part to play in looking after our city, and small actions like binning your gum can make a real difference to keeping Colchester at its best."
According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England's streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with chewing 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 Colchester can play a part in creating cleaner, greener streets for all by binning their gum properly."
If you've spotted an area that you think needs cleaning, you can submit a street cleaning request here.