Gum litter - Time to clean up our streets

DISCARDED chewing gum fouling footpaths causes one of our most difficult litter problems.

Local authorities around the country have tried to improve the appearance of streets by constructing bright pedestrian ways but these are repeatedly fouled up with discarded chewing gun.

A crackdown is getting underway in Cork, Dublin and Bray today as part of a pilot program to encourage people to bin used chewing gun.

On the back of the success of the plastic bag levy, the Government promised levies on chewing gum, ATM receipts, and the wrappers and packaging from fast food outlets by 2003. At one point, it considered the introduction of a €0.05 levy on chewing gum, which was expected to yield about €5 million per annum. Plans were also discussed to put a 2% levy on fast food orders, and 1% on ATM transactions.

Such levies would, of course, have been unfair because the innocent would be as penalised as the guilty. The chewing gum industry has agreed to back a new Gum Litter Taskforce with €6m over the next three years to promote an education and awareness campaign, along with research and development.

The pilot scheme is being launched today, before rolling out a national programme with heavy fines for discarding chewing gum on the streets.

“Spending more and more to clean up gum litter is not sustainable,” Environment Minister Dick Roche said. The gum problem was resolved in Singapore with flogging. That might be considered a bit too drastic here, but we do need to tackle the problem with determination, as part of a broader campaign to rid our streets of litter.