A third of Brits admit to dropping litter as new national campaign calls for people to bin their gum.
Issued by: Chewing Gum Action Group
Over a third of Brits admit to dropping litter according to research by the Chewing Gum Action Group published today.
The survey discovered that we are a nation of litter bugs as 39% of people came clean about not binning their litter. It also found that some types of litter upset people more than others, with almost half (44%) finding dog mess the most irritating.
The results come on the day a major campaign, funded by industry; to tackle chewing gum litter on our streets is launched by Environment Minister Lord Taylor, Cllr Nilgun Canver, Vice-Chair, London Councils Transport & Environment Committee, London Councils and Phil Barton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy.
The “Do your country proud…bin your gum” advertising campaign will run throughout March and April in 15 selected local authorities, including 7 in London, and calls on everyone to play their part in creating a cleaner, better Britain ahead of the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee by putting their gum in a bin.
The campaign is funded by the Chewing Gum Action Group which is a joint initiative between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the chewing gum industry and Chartered Institution of Wastes Management. Its aim is to achieve a long-term solution to the irresponsible disposal of chewing gum.
Since 2005 the annual campaign has lead to reductions in chewing gum litter of up to 91%. In 2011 CGAG successfully reduced the amount of gum litter on the streets where it ran by 56%, a 6% improvement on the previous year.
The survey results also found that people want to take more responsibility for their local areas, with almost two-thirds (61%) of respondents saying they would be willing to get involved in making their local community more attractive ahead of the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in the summer of 2012.
Launching the campaign Environment Minister Lord Taylor, he said: “The Chewing Gum Action Group’s campaign has increased awareness of the need to tackle the blight of chewing gum on our streets.
“Getting people to be more responsible is the only way we are ever going to tackle the problem. We must all play our part in making our streets cleaner by binning chewing gum responsibly.”
A spokesperson for CGAG said: “2012 is a very important year for Great Britain and we are asking the public to make our streets cleaner and nicer places to enjoy by binning their chewing gum responsibly.
“The Chewing Gum Action Group has been running for several years and we’ve seen a reduction in the amount of littered gum on our streets in communities where we’ve campaigned. Encouraging behaviour change is the only long-term and sustainable solution to the problem of littered gum and we are totally committed tackling this issue, but we need your help too.”
For further information please contact 020 7618 9109 or at Wrigley@luther.co.uk
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