Chewing Gum

The Chewing Gum Task Force brings together some of the UK’s major chewing gum producers (Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle) with UK governments in a partnership to remove gum litter from UK high streets and prevent future littering. The scheme, administered by independent charity Keep Britain Tidy, sees the chewing gum firms invest up to £10 million over five years to achieve two objectives; cleaning up historic gum staining and changing behaviour so that more people bin their gum, 2024 is year three of the scheme.

Grants of up to £27,500 (which is a £2,500 increase from the first two years of the scheme) were available to councils across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to fund street cleansing and/or the purchase of cleaning equipment in 2024.

In 2022 the Task Force awarded 44 grants across the UK worth a total of £1.65 million, helping councils to clean an estimated 2.5km² of pavement, an area larger than 467 football pitches. In total 7 Northern Ireland Councils were awarded grants totalling £140,000.

In 2023 the Task Force awarded 55 grants across the UK worth a total of £1.65 million, benefitting councils who were able to clean an estimated 440,000m² of pavement, an area comparable to 3 Scrabo Country Parks. In total 6 Northern Ireland councils were awarded grants totalling £127,907.

In 2024 the chewing gum task force awarded funding totalling £111,512 to the following Northern Ireland councils:

• Belfast City Council;
• Derry City and Strabane District Council;
• Fermanagh & Omagh District Council;
• Mid and East Antrim Borough Council; and
• Mid Ulster District Council.

This funding can be used by these councils to facilitate the removal of gum from their streets by employing staff specifically to do so or purchasing equipment to make their current methods of gum removal more efficient.

By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils have seen reductions in gum littering of up to 80% in the first two months, with a reduced rate of gum littering still being observed after six months.