Disappointed that his proposed bill for a 5p levy on chewing gum to help pay for cleaning up litter was defeated last week, Clwyd West AM Darren Millar hopes the Welsh Government will now work with stakeholders to tackle the problem.

Despite his request for approval to introduce a private member's bill being defeated 30 votes to 17 last week, Darren remains committed to ridding the streets of Wales of chewing gum. 　　

He said:

"This is a problem which needs addressing and although my proposed bill was rejected I hope that the Welsh Government does take action to clear of streets of chewing gum.

"Each year in Wales, around 47 million packets of chewing gum are sold, most of which contain between five and ten pieces of gum.

"According to Wrigley’s around 3% of people confess to spitting their gum on the floor after chewing (although the real percentage is likely to be much higher).

"If you do the maths, that means that between seven and 14 million pieces of gum are hitting the streets of Wales each year, that’s almost 40 thousand pieces of gum per day – it is truly mind-blowing.

"In fact, chewing gum litter was present at 95% of sites surveyed last year as part of an annual survey undertaken by Keep Britain Tidy. This is not a problem that can be ignored."

Photo: Clwyd West AM Darren Millar with the Senior Vice President of Wrigley’s Rob Peterson.