Stratford-on-Avon District Council has successfully obtained a grant of £2,250 from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, to help clean up chewing gum and reduce chewing gum littering.

The District Council is one of 50 local authorities across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its fifth year, for funds to clean chewing gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered in the first place.

The clean-up operations will be carried out in targeted areas of Stratford-upon-Avon and Southam by the Council's street cleansing contractor, Biffa Waste Services, in August 2026 using specialist cleansing equipment.

The Chewing Gum Task Force grant scheme is open to councils across the UK who wish to clean up chewing gum in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent it from being dropped in the first place. 

In the past four years, the Chewing Gum Task Force has awarded grants worth a total of £6.46 million, funding the cleaning of over 4.15 million square metres of pavements.

Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change - a not-for-profit social enterprise - has shown that in areas that benefitted from funding, a reduced rate of chewing gum littering of up to 86% was seen in the first two months.

Reductions were still being observed six months after targeted street cleansing and the installation of specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their chewing gum.

Julie Lewis, Head of Environmental and Neighbourhood Services, said: "We are pleased to have secured this funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force to help improve the cleanliness of our streets. Chewing gum staining is a costly and persistent issue, so this grant will enable us to carry out targeted cleansing in Stratford-upon-Avon and Southam while encouraging people to dispose of their chewing gum responsibly. Together, these measures will help create cleaner and more attractive public spaces for everyone."

According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England's streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with chewing gum.