Britain's chewing gum plague gives town and city bosses sticky problem

Discarded chewing gum splattered on pavements affects 99 percent of Britain's downtown shopping areas, a report revealed Saturday.

The report, compiled by the Local Government Association (LGA), said town and city authorities in England and Wales spend more than 75 million U.S. dollars a year clearing gum from sidewalks.

Calling for manufacturers of the products to do more to help, the LGA described chewing gum as a plague on the pavements of Britain.

The LGA, which represents more than 370 local councils in England and Wales, wants gum manufacturers to contribute to the multi-million-dollar cost of removing gum. It says the money save by councils could be used to fill in a million potholes in roads and streets.

"Recent research by Keep Britain Tidy found 99 percent of main shopping streets and 64 percent of all roads and pavements are stained by chewing gum," said the LGA.

A spokesman for the association said the average piece of gum costs less than 4 U.S. cents to buy, but up to 50 times that to clean up each square meter (20 U.S. dollars).

"Most chewing gum is not biodegradable and once it is trodden into the pavement this requires specialized equipment to remove. Gum manufacturers should also be switching to biodegradable and easier-to-remove chewing gum," the LGA said.

City and town bosses across the country are being forced to use new and innovative methods to fight the blight. These include awareness campaigns, posters which people can wrap their discarded gum in and special chewing gum bins.

LGA environment spokesperson Judith Blake said: "Chewing gum is a plague on our pavements. It's ugly, it's unsightly and it's unacceptable.

"At a time when councils face considerable ongoing funding pressures, this is a growing cost pressure they could do without," the spokesperson added.

Blake also called on chewing gum makers to help settle the problem, saying "It is reasonable to expect chewing gum manufacturers to help more, both by switching to biodegradable gum and by contributing to the cost of clearing it up."

In one operation to highlight the problem, the Chewing Gum Action Group used bright yellow coloring to circle gum on the sidewalks in London's famous Oxford Street, saying the impact on pedestrians was eyecatching. In just one year, the group said, the gum deposited on London's Oxford Street, Bond Street and Regent Street covered an area of 86,000 square meters, the same area of about 12 football pitches. Endit