Dedicated task force removes thousands of pieces of chewing gum from Aberdeen

Thousands of pieces of chewing gum have been removed from Aberdeen city centre thanks to a £27,500 grant.

The clean-up on Union Street comes after Aberdeen City Council became one of 52 areas across the country that successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force.

Aberdeen City Council co-leader councillor Ian Yuill said: “This additional action to remove chewing gum really helps with the shared aim of improving the city centre.

“The area should be pleasant and attractive for the benefit of all businesses, visitors, and residents.

“The £27,500 grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force is a welcome boost to enable more cleaning and to introduce signage aimed at preventing the unacceptable practice of discarding chewing gum.

“The collective work is important and will hopefully be able to make a lasting difference.”

Cleaning teams use a machine to remove detritus from the pavements to see the gum, and then they use heat and low pressure to melt the gum away.

‘Time and money’

Aberdeen City Council Net Zero’s environment and transport vice convener, councillor Miranda Radley, said removing gum takes “time and money” and has urged residents to keep the streets clean.

“The council’s cleansing team work hard keeping Union Street free of litter.

“We’d ask people, as always, not to drop litter, including chewing gum, as it is unsightly and its removal takes time and money.”

The £27,500 grant awarded to Aberdeen City Council was part of a UK-wide chewing gum task force grant scheme.

The scheme was established by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

The task force, a new fund aimed at helping authorities clean chewing gum from the UK’s towns and cities, has given £7m to councils across the UK.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “Chewing gum continues to be an unsightly form of litter in our public spaces – though thankfully the scheme is leading to significant reductions.

“People need to remember that disposing irresponsibly of their gum causes harm to our environment as it takes years to decompose naturally – and, ultimately, costs the public purse to clean it up.”