ALLOA Town Centre Business Improvement District (ATCBID) has launched a campaign to crackdown on chewing gum litter.

It was launched on Monday (22 September) and aims to reduce the amount of littered gum in the Clackmannanshire area.

Encouraging residents to ‘Bin it your way’, the ATCBID has teamed up with the Chewing Gum Action Group (CGAG), an organisation chaired by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and funded by the chewing gum industry, to tackle gum litter in the UK.

The campaign, now in its ninth year, sees industry working with councils and BIDs to develop local initiatives to reduce chewing gum litter.

Andrew Mitchell, BID manager, said, “Chewing gum litter is a real nuisance that is costly and difficult to remove. We want the residents of Alloa to be proud of where they live which is why we have partnered with the Chewing Gum Action Group to raise awareness and proactively tackle this problem.

“Having seen previous years’ positive results from other towns we hope that this campaign will encourage gum chewers to think before they dispose of their gum and understand that they can play a part in making Alloa a clean and inviting place to live.” Results from previous years demonstrate the significant impact of the campaign on gum litter levels.

In 2013 the campaign led to an average fall in gum litter of 47 per cent in participating areas, with some authorities reporting even higher results.

Love Wimbledon BID saw a 67 per cent decrease whilst Bournemouth Council and Neath Port Talbot Council saw a 63 per cent and a 62 per cent decrease respectively.

To monitor the amounts of chewing gum dropped Andrew and Lorraine from the ATCBID have created six test areas which are free from gum.

These 10 square metre areas contained on average around 150 pieces of chewing gum.

This year’s advertising campaign features professionally choreographed and highly innovative dance moves, encouraging gum chewers to dispose responsibly of gum litter in a fun and engaging way or face a fine of up to £80.

The dynamic, brightly coloured adverts will appear in a range of locations across the local area: in shops, library’s and on a mobile van.

CGAG campaign co-ordinator Kristian Bentham said, “Year on year we have seen the chewing gum action campaign deliver some great results. We are delighted to be working with Alloa this year to help them create cleaner, more attractive places to live and work.”