LONDON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A multi-million-dollar task force, backed by major chewing gum producers, is to carry out a massive clean-up operation to remove chewing gum blighting 87 percent of sidewalks in England, a British government department announced Monday.
The task force is part of the British government's new strategy to support the evolution and regeneration of high streets across the country, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
Gum producers, including Mars Wrigley, GlaxoSmithKline and Perfetti Van Melle, have signed up to the scheme and will invest up to 10 million pounds (about 13.8 million U.S. dollars) over the next five years to significantly reduce gum litter from streets, Defra said.
Around 87 percent of England's streets are stained with gum, Defra said, noting that the annual clean-up cost is estimated at 7 million pounds (about 9.66 million dollars).
The investment, starting later this year, will be used to clean up historic gum litter staining and use behavioral interventions to encourage people to bin their gum, it said.
Previous pilots have reduced gum littering by up to 64 percent, according to Defra.
