Chewing Gum Action!
22 March 2010
The national Chewing Gum Action Group is appealing for partners to support a hard-hitting campaign to tackle chewing gum litter this summer.
Around 15 local authorities, housing associations and town centre Business Improvement Districts will be selected to participate in this year’s campaign and will receive paid-for advertising in their area for a month-long period to encourage the public to dispose of their used chewing gum responsibly.
In return, campaign partners are asked to step up enforcement, run a local launch event and monitor key sites across the area to measure the impact of the campaign on the amount of gum littered.
The appeal follows the success of last year’s campaign, which saw an overall reduction in gum litter of 48%, with some partner councils reporting reductions of over 90%.
The advertising for this year’s campaign will be refreshed from last year, focusing on the message 'Save Yourself a Packet' to clearly communicate that you can be fined up to £80 for dropping gum.
The campaign will run in each area for a four week period from 16th August, with the hard-hitting message ‘Bin your gum or it could cost you £80’ appearing on lamp post banners, phone boxes, bus shelter sites, on buses and at railway stations.
The group, which is chaired by Defra and brings together chewing gum manufacturers, Keep Britain Tidy and other interested organisations, hopes that this year’s campaign will continue to tackle the problem of chewing gum litter and will bring about similar success to last year.
If you know of a local authority, housing association or Business Improvement District that would be interested in taking part in the campaign, please direct them to the website at www.chewinggumactiongroup.org.uk