Food manufacturers 'should fund chewing gum clean-up costs'

The LGA also says food companies should create chewing gum that disintegrates naturally.

The call was backed by Kris Hopkins, the local government minister, who said the Government would be "keen" for manufacturers to produce biodegradable gum. It was also supported by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

The LGA estimates the annual cost of removing pieces trodden into pavements across England has reached £56 million, with around six tons dropped in the West End of London alone each year. It claimed that while the average piece of gum costs about 3p to buy, local authorities have to spend around 50 times that (£1.50) to clean it up.

LGA environment spokesman Cllr Peter Box said: "Chewing gum is a plague on our pavements. It is a blight which costs councils a fortune to clean up and takes hours of hard work to remove. It's ugly, it's unsightly and it's unacceptable.

"The UK gum industry is a multi-million pound business and we believe in the principle of the ‘polluter' paying."

A spokesman for the LGA added: "We are calling for [firms] to show corporate responsibility and to contribute."

Mr Hopkins said councils should focus on promoting "social responsibility" and ensuring "the decent provision of litter bins". "However, we would be keen for manufacturers to take forward making their gum biodegradable," he added.

A spokesperson for Wrigley, which dominates the UK chewing gum market, would not say whether they would help pay to clean the streets. She said they took the issue "very seriously" and were attempting to develop a product "that is easier to remove if disposed of improperly".

She added: "The only long-term solution to this problem is persuading people to dispose of their chewing gum responsibly, as the large majority already do."