Thanks to our successful bid for government funding we’ll be tackling the sticky issue of chewing gum in Bexleyheath town centre over the next few months.

Plans are in place to remove the chewing gum that blights the town centre after our successful application to the Chewing Gum Task Force CGTF run by Keep Britain Tidy for funds (£27,500) to clean gum off the pavements and prevent them from being littered again. 

Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for Councils in the UK is around £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

Throwing chewing gum on the ground is a littering offence and anyone witnessed doing this in Bexley will get a Fixed Penalty Notice of £300.

As a result of our successful bid we will also be benefiting from the research social enterprise, Behaviour Change, have done on behalf of the CGTF on what actions are most effective in stopping people from gum littering.

From the end of August until 31 October, we’ll be combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum. The new signage comes in four designs (duck, cat, rabbit, squirrel).

Cllr Richard Diment, Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said:

Keeping Bexley clean and green is a key priority for us. We’re hoping this new humorous animal design street signage will catch people’s attention and that it will deter everyone from dropping their chewing gum which is extremely difficult and costly to remove. We’ll be monitoring closely what happens.”

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, said:

Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean up, so the support for councils provided by the Chewing Gum Task Force is very welcome.
However, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it’s gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be – in the bin – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important.”

We are working closely with the Bexleyheath BID, who are supporting the gum clean-up campaign with posters in shop windows.

Find out more about this initiative at Keep Britain Tidy reducing gum litter