A grant of £30,000 has been awarded to Braintree District Council to run a campaign to tackle the sticky issue of chewing gum.

Braintree District Council has been selected to run an anti gum litter campaign by Defra.  40 local authorities applied to Defra for funding and 16 were successful.

On Monday 10th September Braintree District Council is launching its Chewing Gum Campaign at Witham Train Station between 4.30 - 7.30pm

Thereafter the promotions team will be in the following locations:

Friday 14th September - The Grove Shopping Centre, Witham, 10am - 3pm

Wednesday 19th September - George Yard Shopping Centre, Braintree, 9am - 5pm

Thursday 27th September - Watch out for us in Halstead, 11am - 1pm

Monday 15th October - Kelvedon Train Station, 4:30 - 7:30pm

Promotions staff dressed as convicts will be encouraging residents to dispose of their chewing gum in litter bins and offering gum wraps and pouches as an alternative means of disposal.

The new campaign visuals for the campaign are based on a 'Guilty - not charged' message and if people are caught dropping chewing gum litter fixed penalty notices will be issued.

A similar campaign run by Braintree District Council last summer saw reductions of gum litter of 59%.

In the UK 20 million people consume more that 935 million packs of gum a year, and many chewers are dropping or spitting their discarded gum on the streets.

Each year it costs the council £10,000 to employ a specialist contractor to clean gum from hot spots and new bins have been installed in the town centres in Braintree, Witham and Halstead to combat the problem. They are specially designed for chewing gum and cigarette butts and have been put in places where people gather such as bus stops and taxi ranks.

Environmental promotions officer at Braintree District Council Tania Roberge said: “Discarded chewing gum makes our town centres look unsightly and it is very expensive to clean up. 

“This campaign, combined with the new bins we have installed, should make people think twice before behaving in this extremely antisocial way. We want to see an end to the scourge of discarded gum across the district.”