CHEWING gum producers have signed up to a £10million taskforce to remove the sticky scourge from our high streets.

The cash pledge by Mars Wrigley, GlaxoSmithKline and Italian-Dutch multinational Perfetti Van Melle will help tackle the gum litter that costs £7million a year to remove. Working with Keep Britain Tidy, the firms will invest the money over the next five years to encourage people to bin it instead.

I suggest they take their campaign to schools as well.

When I was a pupil a desk or chair free from wads of gum on its underside was a rare find indeed. That was 50 years ago, but I can’t see things having changed that much. There’s probably as much on school desks as on the streets.