Fermanagh and Omagh District Council awarded funding to tackle the sticky issue of chewing gum on streets in the District

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has been awarded a grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, to help Fermanagh and Omagh District Council clean up gum and reduce gum littering.

Council Officers are putting plans in place to remove the chewing gum that blights local streets after receiving a £25,000 grant to tackle the issue.

This is the third consecutive year that the Council has received funding and this year clean-ups will be undertaken in Belcoo, Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Lisnaskea, Omagh and Trillick.

The Council is one of 54 across the UK that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its third year, for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered again.

Established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme is open to Councils across the UK who wish 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.

Speaking about the funding award, Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor John McClaughry, said:

“I am delighted that the Council has once again been successful in receiving this grant to tackle the issue on shewing gum on our streets.

Chewing gum is a nuisance, looks unsightly and is harmful to the environment as it contains plastic making it difficult to biodegrade.

As members of Leave No Trace, I would encourage everyone to dispose of their litter properly and help to protect your environment and ensure our District is clean and welcoming.”

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.

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 its second year, the task force awarded 55 councils a total of £1.56 million, helping clean an estimated 440,000 m² of pavement – an area equivalent to the Vatican City.

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.

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.

“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.”