More than 40 councils have been awarded grants of up to £70,000 to remove chewing gum from Britain’s streets.
Exeter, Birmingham, Sunderland, Swansea, Glasgow and Belfast are among the first winners of funding as part of the government’s new Chewing Gum Task Force.
Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7m and according to Keep Britain Tidy, which runs the task force, around 87% of England’s streets are stained with gum.
The funding announced today is the first tranche of a package worth up to £10m from major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle to tackle chewing gum stains. The investment will be spread over five years.
Environment secretary George Eustice said: “Working with responsible gum manufacturers, we are now giving councils extra help to clean up our cities and towns. This means we can double down on regenerating our high streets, boosting local economies and levelling up communities across the country.”
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