Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Revealed: How much will Aberdeen City Council’s chewing gum clean-up cost?

The Granite Mile's pavements will be sparkling clean due to the council receiving government funding.

Man cleaning chewing gum.
Union Street in Aberdeen will be cleared of chewing gum.

Does seeing chewing gum stuck to Granite Mile’s pavements infuriate you? Well, that is about to change.

A clean up of gum and an initiative to reduce gum dropping on Union Street is to be helped by a grant from the UK-wide Chewing Gum Task Force, which is funded by manufacturers including Mars Wrigley.

Aberdeen City Council is putting plans in place to remove chewing gum on the famous city street after receiving £27,500 of funding to tackle the issue.

Chewing gum.
Chewing gum is a major problem on city centre streets.

Across the UK, estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of gum for councils is about £7 million.

The local authority is one of 54 UK-wide to successfully apply for the funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force, which is now in its third year and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

Union Street, which is currently undergoing the ‘biggest redevelopment in Aberdeen city centre for 200 years’, will hope the initiative cleans up the street.

Union Street.
Union Street will benefit from the funding. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

A study looking at places that benefitted from the first year of funding showed that it does, with a reduced rate of gum littering being observed six months after the clean-up, as well as the installation of prevention materials.

Due to the works going on to the Union Street Central area from Market Street to Bridge Street, which includes new pavements, the council confirmed that funding will not be used in this area.

By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 60% in the first two months.

Councillor Ian Yuill.
Council co-leader, Councillor Ian Yuill has backed the funding. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

Co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, Councillor Ian Yuill said: “The removal of chewing gum from Union Street – made possible by this very welcome grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force – will make a real difference.

“I would though urge people to keep Union Street tidy and not litter it with chewing gum in the first place.”

‘Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets’

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton added: “Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean up, so the support for councils provided by the Chewing Gum Task Force and the gum manufacturers is very welcome.

“However, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it’s gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be – in the bin – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important.”

Kevin Stewart MSP.
Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart has brought up the issue of chewing gum litter before. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson.

In 2019, Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart urged the UK Government to introduce a chewing gum tax, with the money raised going to councils to deal with this issue of it being discarded on streets.

However, despite the government acknowledging that chewing gum is a “very real problem”, they blocked Mr Stewart’s attempts.

Conversation