Cardiff Council GUMDROP Trial
Siân O’Keefe, Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs, Wrigley said: “We are very excited to be involved in this project working together with Cardiff Council, Gumdrop, and Keep Wales Tidy. Encouraging behaviour change is the only long-term and sustainable solution to the problem of littered gum and we are totally committed tackling this issue”.
NEW GUM BINS ARRIVE TO CLEAN UP CITY
There’s never an excuse to drop chewing gum on our streets and the arrival of GUMDROPS in Cardiff will mean it’s even easier to dispose of littered gum, creating a cleaner, better city for all to enjoy! Cardiff Council, Keep Wales Tidy, The Wrigley Company Ltd. and Gumdrop Ltd have joined together to develop a new pilot scheme for the bins across the city centre and key district shopping centres.
Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Ashley Govier said, ‘Chewing gum waste is one of the usual suspects of litter that we have been targeting in our zero-tolerance campaign of the same name as it is very costly to remove from the street and creates a terrible impression in the City. GUMDROPs are a great idea and will greatly enhance the options for people who need to get rid of their gum. The fact this waste can be recycled by GUMDROPs is a fantastic bonus and hopefully it will prompt people to think before they drop.
GUMDROPs, developed by entrepreneur Anna Bullus, enables used gum to be collected and recycled to produce new GUMDROPs. There will be 100 placed across the city with 80 units planned for the city centre alone with the trial scheduled to last 6 months. The trial will be funded by Wrigley’s and run in partnership with Keep Wales Tidy and Cardiff Council.
Siân O’Keefe, Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs, Wrigley said: “We are very excited to be involved in this project working together with Cardiff Council, Gumdrop, and Keep Wales Tidy. Encouraging behaviour change is the only long-term and sustainable solution to the problem of littered gum and we are totally committed tackling this issue”.
Anna Bullus, Gumdrop said: “Working together with Wrigley, Cardiff Council and Keep Wales Tidy, Gumdrop is delighted to be at the forefront of tackling the problem of gum litter. We believe that changing a small habit can make a big change to our environment and we welcome the people of Cardiff to join us in our effort”.
Louise Tambini of Keep Wales Tidy said, ‘Stains from chewing gum litter are unsightly and very expensive for local authorities to remove. Keep Wales Tidy is delighted to work in partnership with Cardiff Council and Wrigley’s and hopes that the GUMDROP bins will reduce the amount of chewing gum litter found on the streets of Cardiff.’
Cllr Govier added, ‘We are leaving no stone unturned in trying to eradicate this problem from Cardiff’s streets and this trial will form part of a coordinated strategy of education, innovation and enforcement that is ongoing in our battle to take down the Usual Suspects. I will watch this enterprising trial with great interest.’