500 tons of chewing gum
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In Singapore they ban the stuff. Sounds a bit over the top, but it works. Pavements are free of the gunk and none of it under chairs or tables in restaurants either. The US gov kicked up a fuss about it last year, and as a result they relaxed the rules a bit. You can now buy it, but only for oral hygiene purposes and thus from a dentist! Sounds like a few years back in Ireland when you had to go to the good doc to get a condom!
Was in Cork a few weeks back, and the fancy new Beth Ghali designed pavement on Patrick’s Street is already ruined with the stuff.Sorry corcaighboy I have to correct you, I was really surprised with how clean the streets were, not just Patrick’s Street, but other areas of the city centre aswell. Only a few pieces of chewing gum on the street, but that is almost expected anywhere.
@Carlow Nationalist wrote:
Make chewing gum less clingy to solve the sticky issue of litter
LATERAL thinking has been applied by a Carlow senator, who has come up with a novel way of tackling the huge costs of cleaning up chewing gum.
Senator Fergal Browne has described Environment Minister Dick Roche’s attempts to get the chewing gum industry to fund an anti-litter campaign as “ineffectiveâ€.
Instead he advocates an alternative approach – to put pressure on the industry to make its product less sticky.
Referring to a study that was carried out by some Carlow students last year as part of the Young Scientist competition, Senator Browne highlighted that each year 65,000 pieces of chewing gum were discarded on our footpaths.
“The Irish Government should put pressure on chewing gum companies to make chewing gum less sticky, instead of talking about them funding publicity campaigns which have been proven in the past to be almost totally ineffective,†said Senator Browne.
“A campaign will do nothing to help reduce the huge costs associated with cleaning gum off our streets, costs that a study undertaken in Carlow last year illustrated.
“By reducing the costs of removing chewing gum off our streets local authorities would save millions of euros each year which could be put to good use by helping to clean up towns even further.†According to the Fine Gael senator, the study by the students at St Mary’s Academy also estimated that over half a kilo of gum is discarded on Tullow Street every week. In 2003 Carlow Town Council spent •250,000 on street cleaning.
“Technology now exists to make chewing gum less sticky, as advocated by Tom Kavanagh of the Irish Business Against Litter League, and this must be pushed instead of a futile publicity campaign,†he argued.
“If the Minister truly believes a publicity campaign will have the desired effect he should publish any data available to him that can prove this. He should also explain how he sees litter wardens imposing fines on people who spit out chewing gum will work.â€
Majella O’Sullian
© Carlow Nationalist .
I am considering implementing a ban on chewing gum on the buildings I manage due to the effects of discarded gunk.
@Frank Taylor wrote:
Incidentally, O’Connell Street and Henry Street’s new flags are nowhere near as damaged by gum as I would have expected by this stage. Is DCC removing the gum every week or something?
Thats correct, regular cleaning of O’Connell street takes place (the GPO square atleast once a week) and the traders of Henry Mary Street bought a gum removal machine.
Roche decides against chewing gum levy
From:ireland.com
Wednesday, 25th January, 2006Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has decided against a levy on chewing gum in favour of a deal with manufacturers, including Wrigleys, to contribute to a public awareness campaign, and to fund research.
The Minister announced details of the public awareness campaign today which he hopes will encourage people to end the practice of dropping chewing gum on the streets.
A pilot programme will include advertising and education campaigns in towns, extra bins and research into combating the problem of gum stuck to pavements.
Mr Roche decided against a levy despite a 2002 report which called for a tax on packets of chewing gum to help street cleaners meet the multi-million costs of clearing the litter up.
“If you put a 100% levy on chewing gum you might actually stop some people chewing but you wouldn’t stop them spitting it out on the streets,” Mr Roche said.
“What you’ve got to do is change attitudes in this particular area, and you’ve got to work with the various partners.
“It has worked elsewhere, and it has worked in areas which are very difficult.
“I’ve no doubt whatsoever that this is a challenge, to actually change public attitudes is the most difficult thing to do, but to change public attitude requires a different approach,” he said.
Mr Roche also told RTE he had held discussions with the distributors of Dublin’s free newspapers and was confident they would take responsibility for the litter problems caused by the publications.
From Ireland . com via eircom
That won’t work hear, will it? A complete ban on the stuff is the only way, which will also never happen here.
@Morlan wrote:
That won’t work hear, will it? A complete ban on the stuff is the only way, which will also never happen here.
Not one for civil liberties are we!
Thank God we still live in a free country. I accept that with with freedom comes responsibilities like disposing of chewing gum and treating public space and fellow citizens with respect. But banning something like chewing gum seems draconian and excessive State intervention in peoples lives.
How successful will a public information campaign be at reaching those most likely do spit out chewing gum on the street? I’d guess children and antisocial adolescents are the least influenced by do-good government information campaigns.
Sony understood this by advertising their games machine using the format of an anti-drugs ad put out by the Society Against PlayStation (SAPS).
Lets repeal the plastic bag tax and run ads on TV imploring people to do without.
They are not just not interested. I’d guess that, for some at least, such a campaign would have entirely the opposite effect.
The original levy was to fund cleaning, afaik, but why couldn’t the Govt impose the tax and use it to fund the educational campaign? If the money’s coming from the industry surely there’s a chance that manufacturers will just hike prices to cover it- same result but Dickie isn’t the bad guy.
Or maybe the IRDA got to him again?
Second time lucky. Another try at chewing gum tax – six years later!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0427/1224269159959.html
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