Braintree District Council is adding a new ‘gum busting’ machine to enhance its current street and power washing regime to remove chewing gum more effectively from its streets.
A £25k grant awarded by the national Chewing Gum Task Force and administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy will help the council clean up gum and reduce gum littering.
Established by Defra and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme was open to councils across the UK that were looking to clean up gum in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped in the first place.
The council is one of 56 across the country that has successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its second year, for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered.
Cllr Tom Cunningham, Cabinet Member for Transformation, the Environment and Customer Services and Deputy Leader at Braintree District Council, said: “We are thrilled to be one of the successful applicants to receive this grant and we will be using it to purchase a new highly specialised chewing gum removal machine. This will help improve the removal of chewing gum and will also complement our existing equipment, whilst improving efficiency and overall cleanliness standards.”
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 are 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.”
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.”