Bin the gum!
Reporter: Dawn Marsden
Date published: 07 November 2012
BRIGHT idea. . . youth councillors research the Gum Drop Bin at the Big Budget event
Youth councillors target town-centre blight
OLDHAM’S youth councillors are on a mission to rid town centre streets of a sticky problem.
The teenagers are campaigning for special bins to be installed to combat the blight of chewing gum.
Gum Drop Bins - made from recycled chewing gum - would be positioned around town and district centres for shoppers to dispose of their gum. When the bin is full, the whole thing is removed, recycled into a new bin and the cycle continues.
The Youth Council will ask Oldham Council for its support at tonight’s full council meeting.
Youth Council member Dylan McAughey (15) said: “We came up with the idea at the Big Budget event which was all about saving money.
“This will be our first motion to full council and we wanted to go in with a bang.
“We just want to share our idea with the council and see what they think.
“If they like it they can look at the cost. We think it will save money as the cost of cleaning up chewing gum is really high.”
Cleaning up discarded chewing gum costs British tax payers around £150 million a year.
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