The battle to clean the streets of West Devon villages and towns of a sticky menace has begun with the first operational use of a new gum-busting machine.

West Devon Borough (WDBC) staff were joined by FCC Environment (the council’s cleaning contractor), Tavistock Town Council and Borough Cllr Jeff Moody, to try out the new chewing gum cleaning equipment we've purchased, thanks to a grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force.

A grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, will help South Hams and WDBC clean up gum and reduce gum littering.

The machine is the new weapon which the councils are hoping will move the chewing gum that blights local streets after receiving the £18,754 grant to tackle the issue.

The councils are among 54 across the country to receive Chewing Gum Task Force funding to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered again.

Established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), the fund is also to help behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped. The Task Force is funded by major gum makers including Mars Wrigley with up to £10 million spread over five years. Areas receiving funding have seen a reduced rate of gum littering.

Cllr Ursula Mann, council lead member for climate change and biodiversity, said the grant was a positive way for the industry to help solve the littering issue that it creates.

Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7million. Street cleaning and signage asking people to bin their gum, has reduced gum littering by up to 60% in the two months in some areas.

Allison Ogden-Newton, Keep Britain Tidy chief executive, said:“Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean. Once the gum is cleared it is vital to tel people that whether it’s gum or any litter it should be binned – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important.”