School Children Encounter a Sticky Problem

Children from a local school have been shown just how hard it is to remove chewing gum from the streets of Wrexham.

Staff at Wrexham Council's Streetscene demonstrated to pupils from Victoria Junior School the problems posed by discarded chewing gum on Town Hill. Staff used high pressure water hoses to remove the chewing gum and gave a talk to pupils highlighting the effort and cost of removing chewing gum.

Removing chewing gum from pavements and streets is an expensive and time consuming. According to the Community Clean group, while each stick of gum costs only 3p to buy, it costs 10p to prise off the streets. In 2007, the Government said the average cost to clean up gum from a town centre would be £20,000.

Cllr David Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said:

"Removing discarded chewing is not only an expensive process, but also a drain on council resources. After this demonstration, hopefully the children will think twice about throwing their chewing gum on the floor."