LIB DEM REPORT FINDS LONDON LOSING GUM LITTER BATTLE

12.01.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 15th Feb 2005

London losing battle against discarded chewing gum

London Assembly Liberal Democrats today unveiled a new report showing that over £4 million a year is spent by London Councils and transport organisations on trying to stem the tide of discarded chewing gum that litters the capital's streets and street furniture.

The Lib Dems surveyed all 33 local authorities in the capital to discover the extent of the problem. Key findings include:-

· Every Borough who responded believe that discarded chewing gum is an environmental nuisance.

· 81% believe that gum companies should be concentrating more effort on developing biodegradable gum

· 53% of Boroughs did not believe that imposing fines would stop people from discarding chewing gum on the street

· 41% said they had established dedicated teams to remove chewing gum from streets and street furniture.

· £2million is spent by Tube companies and £2.3million by Councils on cleaning up gum deposits every year

The report, Getting to Grips with Gum, puts forward a five-point plan of new proposals to combat the growing menace of used chewing gum including:-

1. Introducing a penny per pack levy on chewing gum manufacturers packs to go directly to public bodies to deal with clean-up costs.

2. Encouraging gum companies to research and develop an alternative biodegradable product, offering reduced levies as an incentive.

3. Insisting that chewing gum manufacturers print larger messages about correct disposal so that, as with health warnings on cigarette packets, 25% of a packet dedicated to this.

4. Launching a London-wide publicity campaign to highlight the damage and costs of chewing gum being dropped irresponsibly

5. Rolling out more chewing gum bins and targets outside major transport hubs, schools and in High Streets

London Assembly Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman, Mike Tuffrey, said:

"London is slowly losing the battle to clean the streets of chewing gum. Chewing gum that is irresponsibly spat on to the street is a nuisance, an eyesore and is costing taxpayers millions each year to clean up. With sales rocketing, and as a result, chewing gum spat on to the streets increasing, Ministers and the Mayor must look at new ways of tackling the problem before it spirals out of control.

"Chewing gum is a unique form of litter as it is almost impossible to remove. Gum manufacturers have been promising for years that they are working on an environmentally friendly gum, but nothing has happened. It is time that Government took a carrot and stick approach with manufacturers to stop our roads becoming one long litterbin.

"The year long consultation recently carried out by the government has been a shallow sham that has failed to produce any concrete ideas on how to tackle the blight of gum spat on to our streets. Unless urgent action is taken soon, London will lose the fight against gum."

ENDS

Notes to editor

The full report can be found at:

http://www.glalibdems.org.uk/resources/sites/217.160.173.25-3e54d44dcb2780.65885247/Chewing+Gum+Report.pdf

Presently the Cleaner Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill is progressing though Parliament, in which the Government makes a passing reference to the chewing gum nuisance. Clause 27 of the Bill suggests that it should be officially reclassified as 'litter', which hitherto it hasn't been. This would place more responsibility on to local authorities to eradicate the problem.

A copy of the report is attached. The Executive Summary, results of the survey and recommendations are below

Executive Summary

1.1 Since 1998 it is estimated that chewing gum sales have increased by 33%. The entire UK chewing market is now worth £258 million per year . However, this growth has brought with it an unfortunate side effect. Millions of pounds are being spent to rid our pavements public property of the huge amount of gum that is poorly disposed of.

1.2 The Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly recognise that chewing gum is a unique product which is much harder, indeed sometimes impossible, to remove than other types of litter and, therefore, needs a unique set of solutions. Unfortunately the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs has not woken up to this reality and has failed to tackle the problem.

1.3 The manufacturer Wrigley's maintains that it has invested around £5million into research to find biodegradable gum. They claim no success to date. However, Liberal Democrats have uncovered research undertaken by a US University showing that environmentally friendly gum is a definite possibility and could meet the demands of the consumer market.

1.4 To investigate the exact extent of the chewing gum nuisance in London the Liberal Democrat Group surveyed all Boroughs in the capital. This revealed that, already, local Councils are spending £2.3 million per annum on dealing with gum pollution. Further research by the Lib Dems also uncovered that £2million is spent purely on removing chewing gum from London Underground trains and stations.

1.5 The London Assembly Liberal Democrats have put forward a number of recommendations to tackle the problem. Action is sought for the government to impose a 'penny per pack' contribution from manufacturers, which would be given directly to Councils and public authorities to deal with the massive clean-up costs. The Group proposes to give manufacturers an incentive to produce biodegradable gum by offering an abatement on these contributions if the company has an active research programme underway and suggests lifting the levy once an alternative environmentally friendly product has been developed. Liberal Democrats are also calling for much larger messages on chewing gum wrappers to encourage correct disposal.

Liberal Democrat Investigation

5.1 So what exactly is the extent of the chewing gum problem in London at present? To find out and, as importantly, develop some ideas about how to eradicate London's streets of this sticky, unsightly mess, the Assembly's Liberal Democrat Group has conducted its own investigation.

5.2 The Group contacted each of the Borough Councils, who are commissioned with the job of removing chewing gum from pavements, to discover whether they perceived chewing gum as a hazard. The survey also asked them about the measures being employed to address it, the costs being incurred and their view on possible solutions.

5.3 17 out of 33 Boroughs replied to the request for information between 1st and 29th October 2004, giving a response rate of 52%.

5.4 Interestingly, the answers that were received showed an unusual degree of uniformity. There were no perceived political differences in the views expressed; respondents were unanimously of the opinion that discarded chewing gum represents is an environmental nuisance.

5.5 Seven of the 17, 41%, revealed that they had established dedicated teams tasked exclusively with the removal of chewing gum from streets and street furniture. Indeed, five of the seven had to employ more than one team with the actual methods used to dislodge gum varying. Seven boroughs reported that they use high-pressure jet sprays, four use scraping, and 2 use chemical treatments.

5.6 Most alarming was the amount of money being spent by local authorities trying to eradicate gum from the streets. Ten boroughs provided estimated costs, the smallest estimated being £12,500 and the largest sum as much as £200,000 per annum. The total sum for all ten boroughs who provided a figure was £686,500. Projecting this across all 33 Boroughs would indicate that over two and a quarter million spent in London each year on trying to remove chewing gum from the capital's pavements.

5.7 In addition, numerous Councils had tried some alternative and complimentary approaches to combat gum littering. Four boroughs (23%) had adopted public awareness campaigns highlighting the nuisance and damage that chewing gum can have on the local environment. Two boroughs (12%) were trialing 'chewing gum targets', whilst another two have experimented with chewing gum bins.

5.8 A key section of the Liberal Democrat survey was used to identify Boroughs' views on possible solutions. It was interesting to note that a majority (53%) of Boroughs did not believe that imposing fines would prevent individuals from discarding chewing gum on the street, with the key concern that this would be difficult to police and enforce.

5.9 The graph that illustrates what measures respondents would like to see introduced by central Government or the powers they would like to have at their disposal to deal tackle the problem of discarded chewing gum, can be found in the main pdf report:

5.10 In addition, the Boroughs were asked whether they would like to see manufacturers themselves take a more proactive role in tackling the problem of chewing gum littering the streets. Thirteen of the sixteen who responded to the question, a resounding 81% believed that gum companies should be concentrating more effort on developing less sticky or biodegradable chewing gum. Two other respondents argued that the manufacturers should be partly funding an awareness campaign to highlight the nuisance that discarded chewing gum can cause the environment.

5.11 Further research by the Liberal Democrats also discovered that around £2million was spent by London Underground alone on removing chewing gum from stations and trains. In answer to Liberal Democrats the Mayor admitted: -

"London Underground estimates that its suppliers spend some £2m per annum removing gum from its stations and trains. As an example - cleaning the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Line trains and stations costs some £20m per year. We estimate that around 2% of that (£400k) is on removing gum."

Recommendations

6.2 There are several solutions to this sticky problem, which the London Assembly Liberal Democrat Group argue should be progressed immediately:

· Action from Government

- Requiring chewing gum manufacturers to contribute one penny from each packet they sell to go towards gum clean up costs. This 'penny per pack' payment, which would yield over £1.8million in London alone , would go direct to local Councils and public authorities to deal with their massive clean-up costs.

- Giving an incentive to gum manufacturers to research and develop an alternative biodegradable product to replace the current stubbornly sticky consistency, by phasing in reduced gum contributions dependent on research spend and success.

- Insist that chewing gum manufacturers print larger messages about correct disposal so that, as with health warnings on cigarette packets, 25% of a packet dedicated to this message.

- Requiring a minimum budgetary spend from manufacturers on involvement in and sponsorship of local authority campaigns to deter people dropping chewing gum.

· Action in London

- Launching a Londonwide publicity campaign to highlight the damage and costs of chewing gum being dropped irresponsibly and making people more aware of the consequences of gum dropping.

· Action in the Boroughs

- Rolling out more chewing gum bins and targets outside major transport hubs, schools and in High Streets to give people more ways to discard of gum responsibly. These could be financed through the gum levies and penny per pack payment.

Related Link:

Chewing Gum Report