Community
Mayor Kieran O’Hanlon launches 2017 Gum Litter Taskforce
Mayor of Limerick City and County Cllr. Kieran O’Hanlon with Saoirse Farrell, KIlmallock launch the 2017 Gum Litter Taskforce. Picture: Alan Place.
Mayor Kieran O’Hanlon launches 2017 Gum Litter Taskforce
Mayor of Limerick City, Kieran O’Hanlon launched the 2017 Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) gum litter education campaign on Bedford Row on Saturday 24th June.
The campaign has previously experienced huge success in changing the public’s behaviour to gum disposal and through a targeted education awareness campaign there has been an encouragement of correct gum disposal. During the 2016 campaign the highest number of people to date (93%) stated that dropping gum is littering and almost 6 in 7 people claim they always dispose of their gum, according to research carried out by Millward Brown.
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Speaking at the launch of the 2017 Gum Litter Taskforce Cathaoirleach of Limerick City and County Council, Kieran O’Hanlon said: “This is a great campaign for communities up and down the country to get involved in. It unites communities in a common goal to responsibly dispose of chewing gum and continue to contribute to the positive results the campaign has seen to date.”
Speaking at the official launch of the 2017 campaign, Paul Kelly, Chairman of the GLT added: “Each year the campaign seeks to educate people on the correct disposal of gum and while we have seen very positive results to date, we want to continue encouraging a positive behaviour change amongst the small minority who are still disposing of gum incorrectly. The latest research results highlighted a significant increase in those who say they never drop gum which points towards the success of the campaign since its inception at targeting younger people who are taking the message home with them and into households across Ireland. The national launch today is just one element of this nationwide campaign which also includes a national advertising campaign and a schools education programme, Bin It!”
Industry representative Alex West; Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs – UK & Ireland for the Wrigley Company (a subsidiary of Mars Inc) said: “The Wrigley Company is delighted to be the industry representative on the GLT and be part of such a successful campaign. The Gum Litter Taskforce is a unique industry funded initiative that runs in partnership with local and national government and civic society to tackle a common goal through awareness and education. The campaign results to date have demonstrated the success our approach has had in changing behaviour and attitudes to gum littering.”
This is the third year that the campaign has been run, due to an agreement between the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment and Food Drink Ireland (FDI) representing the gum industry, to fund a national gum litter awareness programme from 2015-2017.
Each of the local authorities will launch their own campaigns in the coming weeks. The 27 participating authorities are: Clare County Council, Longford County Council, Cavan County Council, Cork County Council, Cork City Council, Donegal County Council, Dublin City Council, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Kerry County Council, Kildare County Council, Kilkenny County Council, Laois County Council, Leitrim County Council, Louth County Council, Limerick City and County Council, Monaghan County Council, Roscommon County Council, Sligo County Council, Sough Dublin County Council, Tipperary County Council, Waterford County Council, Westmeath County Council, Wexford County Council and Wicklow County Council.
For more on the 2017 Gum Litter Taskforce click here
For more on previous Gum Litter Taskforce click here
