Kensington and Chelsea Council’s streets gained 38% more chewing gum litter during a failed attempt to reduce the problem through a four-week public awareness campaign.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) this week released results from its Chewing Gum Action Group campaign, in which 15 local authorities tried to cut the litter from their streets through advertising last year. Of the 15 councils that participated, Kensington and Chelsea was the only authority to report an increase. The average outcome was a reduction of 38%, with the highest reduction reported from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, at 72%.
The campaign took place between May and October 2006. The action group used a total of £600,000 coming from Wrigley’s and Cadbury to pay for advertising, which was then supported by the councils’ initiatives – including trialling alternative methods of disposal and increasing the visibility of enforcement and fines for gum litter, a Defra spokeswoman said.
Kensington and Chelsea’s environmental management cabinet member Cllr Nicholas Paget-Brown said the campaign ‘only had a limited effect’, and there were two main reasons why the borough saw an increase. ‘Firstly, there are large numbers of tourists who visit the borough and they may be more willing to spit their gum out than residents. Secondly, there is also an unusually large number of underground stations in Kensington and Chelsea and many people decide to spit their gum out as they enter or leave a station.
‘Kensington and Chelsea Council currently spends £135,000 a year on cleaning chewing gum off the streets and believes it is about time that the manufacturers took some responsibility for their actions, either by footing some of the bill, or developing a more biodegradable form of gum.’
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