Chewing Gum: Disposal (Hansard, 18 February 1998)

Viscount Long
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will raise the matter of proper disposal of chewing gum with the Litter Advisory Committee.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Baroness Hayman)
My Lords, the Litter Advisory Group was set up specifically to review the litter provisions in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and reported in July 1994.
We look to the Tidy Britain Group to advise us on all aspects of littering, including disposal of chewing gum. The group, which is largely funded by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, runs projects to promote the proper disposal of gum. It is also working with a leading gum manufacturer to develop effective cleansing methods and to investigate the possibility of changing the composition of gum to reduce its adhesive qualities.

Viscount Long
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her Answer. Can she go a little further? Does she agree that 300,000 pieces of chewing gum are removed from Oxford Street at any one time? Is not that a minnow compared to the rest of the country—towns, air terminals, stations and streets? Is it not the case that the situation is now so serious that Britain is beginning to look like an old English pudding called spotted dick? Furthermore, it is a far better sight to see a herd of cattle chewing the cud than to see a flock of tourists and 229 members of the British public not only chewing gum, but spitting it out or putting it around tables in restaurants.

§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Richard)
My Lords, I am reluctant to interrupt what I believe to be 15 years' silence on the part of the noble Viscount. However, he really ought to ask a question.

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, I agree that the sight of anyone, whether British or foreign, spitting out gum is not pleasant. I agree also that it is a growing and expensive problem. Surveys undertaken by the Tidy Britain Group suggest that the problem of discarded chewing gum on streets and pavements is getting worse. I cannot confirm official government figures on the number of individual pieces of gum, but I can say that Westminster City Council spends approximately £25,000 a year simply on removing chewing gum from streets and pavements. Whether the Westminster problem is specifically related to the inability sometimes suggested of politicians to walk and chew gum at the same time, I am not certain.

§ Lady Saltoun of Abernethy
My Lords, would not the Government consider imposing a heavy duty on the sale of chewing gum and putting the proceeds towards paying for cleaning up the mess that chewers cause?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, the House will understand that matters of taxation and duty are for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. However, I recognise that I respond for the Government in this House on this matter and I shall certainly pass on that suggestion to my right honourable friend.

§ Baroness Carnegy of Lour
My Lords, will the noble Baroness take on board the advice of some young friends of mine? There is a simple answer to all this. When one chews chewing gum, one should keep the wrapper. When one finishes with it, it should be put back into the wrapper and put in one's pocket until one finds a rubbish bin.

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, the House may be interested to know that the Tidy Britain Group provided 24,000 spring clean-up kits promoting good gum disposal and 16,000 youth packs for schools and youth groups suggesting the sort of action referred to by the noble Baroness. Those kits are being produced as part of the Tidy Britain Group's annual campaign—the National Spring Clean—which will take place in April this year.

§ Earl Russell
My Lords, do the Government accept the premise of the question that there is such a thing as the proper disposal of chewing gum?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, if the Government accept the premise that people chew gum and that it 230 should not be made a criminal offence so to do, then the Government accept the premise that the proper disposal of gum is an issue that they should consider.

§ Lord Acton
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that, after 35 years of smoking, some of us managed to give up that habit by chewing, first, nicotine chewing gum and then ordinary chewing gum? Might it not be in the national interest if the noble Viscount, Lord Long, and other smokers were to contemplate the therapeutic joys of chewing gum?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, I am sure that it will be in the interests of public health that as many people as possible follow the example of my noble friend and give up smoking.