Ipswich Borough Council has been awarded £20k from the Chewing Gum Task Force grant scheme to tackle chewing gum on streets at two known problem locations - Ipswich Waterfront and the town centre - for the next few years.
The Chewing Gum Task Force, established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is run by environmental charity, Keep Britain Tidy. Around 87% of England’s streets are stained with gum, according to the charity and the estimated costs to councils is around £7million each year to combat the problem.
The funding awarded to Ipswich Borough Council will enable more deep cleaning to remove chewing gum stains from Ipswich Waterfront and streets around Ipswich Town Centre and also install new signage to encourage more responsible disposal of chewing gum in bins to reduce the problem of gum removal from streets in the longer-term.
Local waste and recycling mascot DiGBY will feature at pop-up awareness events in the Town Centre & Waterfront to provide education and community engagement about the problems that gum littering causes for cleansing teams.
Councillor Phil Smart, Ipswich Borough Council Portfolio Holder for the Environment, says:
“We have recently been awarded funding and are working on an awareness campaign for later in 2022 and that will be targeted at Ipswich Waterfront and Ipswich town centre as these are two areas that we know have problems with irresponsible chewing gum disposal. These require frequent removal by our Ipswich Borough Council waste teams and we shall deliver on improvements here.”
Street cleansing issues in Ipswich can be reported online, visit: Report a street cleaning problem | Ipswich Borough Council
