Deputy Mayor, SDCC Cllr Trevor Gilligan with Cllr Shirley O’Hara, Cllr Eoin O’Broin, Nessa Watkins (SDCC Environ-mental Awareness), and Simon Crowley (Clondalkin Tidy Towns)
Bin your gum when you’re done!
The Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) took to the streets of Clondalkin, to promote positive gum litter disposal.
As part of its Summer Roadshow campaign, the GLT collaborated with South Dublin County Council to promote the importance of proper litter disposal through fun education and awareness initiatives that highlight the negative environmental impacts of gum litter and draw awareness to the €150 gum litter fine.
South Dublin Deputy Mayor Counsellor Trevor Gilligan launched the event with Clondalkin Tidy Towns and staff from the SDCC Climate Action Department.
GLT has seen gum litter reduce by almost 70 per cent since 2007, via a sustained public engagement and education campaign. According to the latest National Litter Pollution Monitoring System data, gum now accounts for just 8.6 per cent of all litter, continuing a downward trend in gum as a component of litter from 26.4 per cent in 2006, and 9.1 per cent in 2021, the end of the previous three-year cycle.
92 per cent of people now report properly disposing of their chewing gum, a record high.
85 per cent of 16–34-year-olds now view littering as socially unacceptable..
However, according to the latest research 1 in 12 admit that they still drop their gum on the ground.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
