a guide to improving your local environment - Keep Britain Tidy

CHEWING GUM LITTER
www.encams.org
What’s the extent of the gum problem
In the UK 20 million people consume more than 935
million packets of gum a year. Just under half of the UK
population chew gum, and the market, currently valued at
£322m, is constantly growing.
Whilst many people dispose of their gum correctly, there
are some who drop or spit it out onto the streets. Once
trodden in, gum can be extremely difficult and costly to
remove, causing staining to paved areas.
What are the gum dropping laws
Dropping gum is classed as dropping litter. This is made
explicit in s.27 CNEA 2005. Therefore the same laws and
penalties as outlined above for dropping litter apply to
dropping gum. Many councils have taken action against
gum droppers, issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for
littering offences.
Once gum becomes flattened to the surface of a
pavement it can’t be removed as you would a
piece of litter.
GUM LITTER
Is chewing gum litter/staining a problem
Chewing gum litter and the staining it causes pose a
problem in many different ways.
Chewing gum is the most prevalent form of staining
In a survey of over 10,000 sites falling within a range of
different land uses, ENCAMS found solid gum present at
3% of sites and staining resulting from people dropping
or spitting gum at 55%. The amount of impacted gum
recorded during the survey has declined over the last
three years. However, it is still the biggest form of
staining with accumulations becoming extreme in
locations where people congregate including main town
and city centres (91%), local retail and commercial areas
(84%) and bus and railway stations (60%).
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