COLCHESTER Council has spent £10,000 to encourage people to recycle their chewing gum.

From today, 34 bright pink gumdrop mini-bins will pop up across gum litter hotspots in Colchester.

Residents can also pick up a free keyring from Hollytrees Museum, Firstsite, Colchester Town Hall, Leisure World and Colchester Library.

“Gum users simply deposit their chewed gum into their keyrings and, once full, return it to a keyring collection point where they can drop it off and collect a new one.

When full, the town centre gumdrop bins and keyrings are collected by Gumdrop Ltd and recycled into new bin inserts and key rings.

Martin Goss (Lib Dem) councillor responsible for waste, said: “We receive so many complaints about the eyesore of gum stains all over our pavements and we spend a lot of time and money on tackling the issue – even investing in new gum removing equipment.

“That’s why we are so excited to bring Gumdrop to our town.

“No-one likes stepping on sticky gum waste or seeing the stains it leaves behind.”

The council has set aside £10,000 to deliver the project over a two year period. Gumdrop Ltd will co-ordinate the delivery and collection of the equipment.

It is part of the Better Colchester campaign – a £2 million programme to make Colchester a better place to live and visit.