Reigate and Banstead Borough Council have successfully obtained a grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, to help clean up gum and reduce gum littering.

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council today announced ambitious plans to remove the chewing gum that blights local streets after receiving a £12,141.86 grant to tackle the issue.

The council is one of 50 across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its fifth year, for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered in the first place.

The Chewing Gum Task Force grant scheme – established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy – is open to councils across the UK who wish to clean up gum in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent it from being dropped in the first place.

The Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with an investment of up to £10 million spread over five years.

In the past four years, the Task Force has awarded grants worth a total of £6.46 million, funded the cleaning of over 4.15 million square metres of pavements.

Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change – a not-for-profit social enterprise – has shown that in areas that benefitted from funding, a reduced rate of gum littering of up to 86% was seen in the first two months.

Reductions were still being observed six months after targeted street cleansing and the installation of specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum.

Cllr Hannah Avery, Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “We believe this funding can have a long-term impact in Redhill and local people will be inspired to keep the town centre cleaner and chewing gum free.

“Later this month, there will be a specialist, deep clean of the pedestrian area to kickstart the campaign, followed by bright signage on lampposts with a simple message to ‘Bin your gum’. We want local residents, businesses and visitors to all get behind it.

“The installation of 32 solar-powered, big belly bins in Redhill town centre in 2024 has helped to reduce litter, but now we want to remind people there is no excuse for dropping gum.”

According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, 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 Redhill can play a part in creating cleaner, greener streets for all by binning their gum properly.”