Task force tackles Flintshire’s gum-stained streets

Flintshire County Council has been removing chewing gum from pavements across the county, following a £27,500 grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force earlier this year.

Administered by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the grant is part of a national initiative to tackle gum litter and encourage responsible disposal.

High-footfall areas in Flint, Mold, Buckley, Broughton, Saltney, Talacre, Ewloe, and Queensferry have seen significant improvements, with cleansing teams removing gum from pavements and installing new signage to discourage littering.

Areas such as Holywell, Queensferry, and Shotton were cleaned last year as part of the same initiative.

The Chewing Gum Task Force, funded by gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, is a five-year programme with an investment of up to £10 million.

Established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the initiative combines street cleaning with behaviour change campaigns.

Research from Behaviour Change, a not-for-profit social enterprise, shows gum littering reductions of up to 60% within two months in participating areas.

Councillor Glyn Banks, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transportation, commended the programme’s impact:
“The teams have achieved fantastic results in high-footfall areas this year. If successful with future bids, we hope to extend the programme to side streets off the main roads going forward.”

The scale of the challenge is significant, with UK councils spending an estimated £7 million annually to clean gum from streets. Keep Britain Tidy reports that 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, emphasised the importance of the initiative:

“Thankfully, most people dispose of gum responsibly, but cleaning gum and its stains costs councils millions each year. While the problem won’t be solved overnight, the Chewing Gum Task Force is helping tackle this sticky issue with innovation and behaviour change.”