Gum Summit
(UK) Councils across the UK are campaigning for people to pay an extra 'penny-a-packet' for chewing gum. This proposed 'tax' will help pay for cleaning it from the streets which runs to the annual total of £150million per year.
UK gum sales are worth an estimated £258m a year but half of the £4million spent cleaning up the UK capitol goes on removing gum from the London Underground trains and stations.
The Liberal Democrats suggestion of 'biodegradable gum' and a spokeswoman for the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Association said a campaign would be launched this year 'to persuade people to dispose of their gum responsibly'.
But she said the industry opposed a tax that would make consumers think they had paid for the right to discard gum.
So is taxation the answer? Maybe educational campaigns are a better option? There's always enforcement through making it an offence (which it already is)? Although where does it stop—what about other litter from takeaways, confectionary wrappers etc—surely this is about educating people to understand that putting their litter in the bin is the right thing to do…
Filed by DK on March 1 2005
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