Bin Your Gum campaign gets off the ground with a clear goal in sight

By Laura Lyne

THE launch of the 2016 gum litter education campaign by the Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) was held last month in Templeogue by the former Mayor of South County Dublin, councillor Sarah Holland, reports Laura Lyne.

So far, the campaign has seen huge success with a 15 per cent decrease of people dropping their gum from 2007 to 2015 according to the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System.

It is the second year of the latest campaign, which is the result of a new agreement between the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) to fund a new campaign until 2017.

Speaking at the launch, Cllr Holland said: “It is wonderful to see everyone in the community coming together to get behind this campaign, both here in South Dublin and in so many towns around the country.

“The GLT campaign brings together the community and local authorities with a common goal to fight gum litter.”

The theme of the current campaign is “bin your gum when you’re done” and includes a schools’ education programme aimed at First Year secondary school students.

It includes an actor-led workshop tour called Bin It, which is supported by materials and tools for teachers to download and integrate into lesson plans.

Other features of the campaign include a four-month advertising campaign, a live GLT Bin Game at all launch events, distribution to over 1,000 retailers across Ireland and sponsorship of three awards in the TidyTowns competition.

Further information about the campaign can be found at www.gumlittertaskforce.ie