Cathaoirleach launches gum campaign

The Cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council has, in one of his first acts as first person, launched the national 2016 Gum Litter Taskforce campaign.
Fianna Fail’s Fergal Curtin joined the campaign as gum represented the lowest amount of litter, making up just 11 per cent, since the Taskforce began.
The national campaign has seen huge success to date with the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System results showing an overall decrease in people dropping gum from 26% when the campaign started in 2007. The results of the attitudinal research carried out by Millward Brown on behalf of the GLT during the 2015 campaign saw the highest numbers to date reporting they never drop gum.
Cavan is one of 26 local authorities involved in the campaign, and speaking at the launch Cllr. Curtin said: “It is wonderful to see everyone in the community coming together to get behind this campaign, both here in Cavan 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.”
This is the second year of the latest campaign, the result of a new agreement between the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) representing the gum industry, to fund a national gum litter awareness programme from 2015-2017.