The campaign, created by ad agency Bray Leino, is being trialled in three areas before a possible national rollout. It will include posters in busy areas and messages printed on beermats, as well as stricter enforcement measures.
Gum chewers who dispose of it irresponsibly are being asked to think twice and to find a bin to stick it in. Specially designed disposal pouches will be handed out in key pedestrian areas or distributed free-of-charge through local retail outlets.
The scheme is backed by the government-sponsored Chewing Gum Action Group. It aims to change gum-droppers' behaviour and save on local authorities' clean-up bills by making people put their used gum in the bin.
The trial is running in Preston starting today and will be followed by pilots in Manchester and Maidstone in Kent in June. Reaction to the campaigns will be assessed and the information used to develop a national campaign later this year.
Other partners include chewing gum industry representatives, the Keep Britain Tidy Group, the DfES, the Local Government Association and the street-cleaning industry.
The project follows research carried out last year, which identified the reasons why some gum chewers drop their gum and what might motivate them to change their behaviour and dispose of it correctly.
Councils all over the country are looking at the issues after it was revealed that the country spends 拢150m a year cleaning up after people who drop gum on the streets. Liverpool council has even gone so far as proposing a 1p levy on every packet of chewing gum sold to help fund the cost of cleaning it up.
Ben Bradshaw, local environment minister, said: "Irresponsibly discarded gum, which sticks to the streets and other areas of public property, is a nuisance that costs councils thousands to clean up every year.
"This campaign is being developed by the Chewing Gum Action Group and is the start of a wider publicity push that will really get the message across that throwing your used gum on the floor is just not acceptable."
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