Havering Council has been awarded £26,756.00 towards cleaning up the scourge of chewing gum on the borough’s streets.
The grant has been given by the Chewing Gum Taskforce, which is run by environmental charity, Keep Britain Tidy.
Havering is one of 52 councils across the UK that has received a share of £1.2 million to clean up and also look at ways of reducing gum litter.
The money will enable Havering and its waste and street cleaning partner, FCC, to deep clean with special equipment to get rid of the chewing gum.
The project will also see local schoolchildren get involved in projects.
They will learn about the impact that dropping chewing gum and all litter has on the environment and the community they live and go to school in.
The taskforce was established by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and it is run by Keep Britain Tidy to tackle what is an anti-social issue.
Councillor Barry Mugglestone, Havering’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said:
“We’re delighted to have this funding to help us clean up chewing gum that is blighting our streets.
“It will help us to keep our streets cleaner but we will also be asking residents and visitors to our borough to play their part.
"Asking them to not drop their chewing gum or any litter, on the floor in the first place.
“It is a horrible sight to see the gum which sticks to your shoes and blights our pavements, roads and parks.
“As part of our Where We Live campaign, our teams are working hard to keep our borough clean alongside all the wonderful volunteers who help us pick up litter and take pride.
“Sadly, there are still people who think it is okay to drop chewing gum on the floor or not put their rubbish in the bin or fly tip.
"We want everyone to help us enjoy a cleaner borough.”
The Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle.
Both have made an investment of up to £10 million to support the project nationwide over five years.
Statistics show that it costs Councils around £7m to clean up chewing gum litter.
Areas across the country that have benefitted from this funding already, saw an 80 per cent reduction in gum littering in the first two months.
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, said:
“Chewing gum continues to be an unsightly form of litter in our public spaces, though thankfully the scheme is leading to significant reductions.
“People need to remember that disposing irresponsibly of their gum causes harm to our environment.
"It takes years to decompose naturally, and, ultimately, costs the public purse to clean it up.”