South Dublin County chosen as part of Gum Litter Task Force national campaign

The Gum Litter Task Force (GLT) has announced that South Dublin County will be among an initial 15 local authority areas to participate in the first phase of activity in its National Gum Litter Action Campaign. This announcement follows the review and assessment of the highly successful pilot campaigns which were run in Dublin, Cork and Bray during a three month period from July to September of 2006. Each of these pilot campaigns met the objectives of raising awareness of the gum litter issue and promoting more responsible disposal of gum.

 The National Campaign, which will commence in July, represents the centrepiece of the programme of activity of the GLT which was established in 2006 as a joint initiative between the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the gum industry as represented by the Food & Drinks Industry Ireland (FDII) division of IBEC.

This initial phase of the National Campaign will include outdoor advertising, in-store and around store advertising, point of sale materials and the promotion of greater awareness of litter fines for the irresponsible disposal of chewing gum in South Dublin County. As with the Pilot Campaigns the overall theme is Thanks for binning your gum when youre done. The experience gained through the pilots has provided the template for the National Campaign.

 Commenting on the announcement Paul Kelly, Chairman of the GLT said We have spent the past six months examining these results in order to design a truly effective National Campaign. We are delighted to be able to announce the participation of South Dublin County Council in the first phase of the campaign which will commence in July and look forward to announcing further participating towns and areas in the coming months.

 The GLT will now commence work with South Dublin County Council to develop a specific programme of action for the area. Each town and area has its own unique characteristics and we will be working with South Dublin County Council to help design and develop a plan to meet the specific needs and characteristics of the South Dublin County, Mr Kelly added. We have now entered a very exciting phase of activity in the work of the GLT and we are delighted with the response we have received from South Dublin County Council as well as the other participating local authorities.

Ends

Queries: Gum Litter Taskforce Executive, Catherine Logan, 01 605 1575.

Editors Notes:

The local authorities selected to participate in the first phase of the national campaign include: the City Councils of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, the County Councils of Cavan, Fingal, Louth, North Tipperary, South Dublin, South Tipperary, Roscommon and Westmeath and the Town Councils of Fermoy and Westport.

About the Gum Litter Taskforce

The Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) was established following a negotiated agreement between the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the chewing gum industry.

The joint initiative is the result of negotiations between the Department and Food & Drink Industry Ireland a division of IBEC - on behalf of the chewing gum industry. This follows the publication of the Government Study on Chewing Gum, Fast-Food packaging and ATM receipt litter. It is the first of a series of agreements to be concluded with the Banking, Fast Food and Chewing Gum industries following the recommendations by a consultants' report to the Department.

The GLT is charged with developing and implementing an Action Programme to tackle gum litter in the most sustainable way by changing behaviour, the root cause of the issue.

Members of the GLT include representatives of the chewing gum industry, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Food and Drink Industry Ireland, Department of Education and Science, ENFO, ECO UNESCO, Foroige, local authority representatives and Retail Ireland.