Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) has secured a grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, to help remove chewing gum from local streets and reduce gum littering across the county.
The Council has been awarded £27,500 to support the removal of chewing gum from pavements and public spaces, while also encouraging residents and visitors to dispose of gum responsibly.
CCC is one of 50 councils across the UK to successfully apply for funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its fifth year.
The funding will target locations where chewing gum litter has the greatest impact on the appearance of Carmarthenshire. This includes deep-cleaning concourse areas in the county’s principal town centres to remove long-standing gum staining from pavements and pedestrian areas, as well as tackling gum deposits on street furniture such as benches, bins and other public infrastructure.
The work will be delivered in partnership with the Council’s Tîm Tacluso operatives, helping to enhance the public realm, improve the appearance of key town centre locations and create a cleaner, more welcoming environment for residents, businesses and visitors.
Alongside the cleaning programme, the funding will also support initiatives aimed at encouraging people to dispose of chewing gum responsibly and help prevent future littering.
The Chewing Gum Task Force grant scheme, established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and run by Keep Britain Tidy, helps local authorities clean up gum litter and invest in long-term behaviour change campaigns.
The Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, through an investment of up to £10 million over five years.
Over the past four years, the Task Force has awarded grants worth more than £6.46 million and funded the cleaning of over 4.15 million square metres of pavements across the UK.
Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change, a not-for-profit social enterprise, found that areas receiving funding saw reductions in gum littering of up to 86% in the first two months following targeted cleaning and the installation of specially designed signage. These reductions continued to be observed six months later.
Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Edward Thomas, said:
“We are delighted to receive this funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force. Chewing gum litter can be difficult and costly to remove, so this investment will help us improve the appearance of our town centres and public spaces across Carmarthenshire.
Working with our Tîm Tacluso teams, we will target some of the areas most affected by chewing gum staining, helping to create cleaner and more welcoming environments for residents, businesses and visitors.
Keeping Carmarthenshire clean is a shared responsibility, and we hope this initiative will encourage everyone to dispose of their chewing gum properly and take pride in the communities where they live, work and visit.”
According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with chewing gum.
Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, 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 Carmarthenshire can play a part in creating cleaner, greener streets for all by binning their gum properly.”
