Page 20 - Litter Toolkit

4.1

Chewing Gum

Chewing gum, although small, is litter. It’s a popular resources such as posters and a PowerPoint
product, with approximately 47 million packets sold in presentation which they shared in assemblies. The ACTIONS: Let’s Go
Wales each year. Chewing gum can cause big problems information made the whole school think about
as almost 40,000 pieces are irresponsibly dropped the way they dispose of unwanted gum, the cost Investigate your school inside and outside the
on our streets every day! Once dropped, it sticks and of cleaning it up and the impact it can have on the school gates. How many pieces of gum can you
hardens very quickly and requires costly and labour- environment. The school plan to carry out another count? Are there specific problem areas?
intensive equipment to clean it up. Chewing gum is survey to review the impact of the campaign.
made from polymers which are synthetic plastics that Discuss and present your findings to the school
do not biodegrade, leaving the problem visible for a community. Collect suggestions from the whole
long time. Dylan Thomas Community School in Swansea school, including cleaning staff and the site
launched an initiative which encouraged gum chewers manager, on how to tackle the problem. Speak to
To purchase one piece of gum costs 3p, to clean each to deposit their gum on a special disposal board your headteacher to look at the options for gum
piece from our streets costs £1.50! called a GumTarget. The front of the GumTarget disposal.
carries pictures and messages aimed at capturing the
Secondary schools often report issues of chewing gum attention of gum chewers and encouraging them to Investigate gum recycling and fundraise for a gum
on the school yard and stuck onto furniture. As well as dispose of their gum responsibly. The hope is that by recycling bin.
looking unsightly, there is a financial cost to the school encouraging responsible disposal of chewing gum at
for removal. school it will also ensure that pupils dispose of their
gum responsibly in public. Keep Wales Tidy Policy Action Paper
School examples

Chewing Gum Action Group
The Eco-Committee and pupils at Stanwell
Comprehensive School in the Vale of Glamorgan
developed the ‘Un-chew it’ campaign, after a Gum Drop Ltd
survey found over 6,000 pieces of gum in just a few
classrooms (which worked out to be 146,000 pieces Hubbub
inside the school!).

Pupils produced questionnaires and promotional The Culture Trip