Milltown school kids first to take pledge to bin their gum

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN â€Å“Itâ€â„¢s important that gum is disposed of correctly and not thrown on the path. Itâ€â„¢s not nice to have to clean up someone elseâ€â„¢s litter and I hope Milltownâ€â„¢s Tidy Town involvement will help bring the message to young people. â€Å“Once chewing gum goes onto the street, it could be there for years and it takes a huge amount of time, effort and money to get it removed. This is a wonderful campaign and Iâ€â„¢d appeal to you all to keep up the good work,â€Â he told the crowd of school children gathered in Milltownâ€â„¢s community centre. Milltown Tidy Towns stalwart Frank Glynn said the pledge was the first campaign of its kind in the country which links schools and Tidy Town committees. â€Å“We have gone to schools directly to help secure ther co-operation and to further educate them about the problem of gum litter. Weâ€â„¢re delighted that each child has signed a pledge to dispose of their gum properly. The children have also designed posters on the theme and these will go on public display in Milltown this summer. â€Å“Iâ€â„¢d encourage everyone to use the handy gum disposal papers and I hope that our pledge campaign will be adopted by other schools in the county and country,â€Â said Frank. Environmental Awareness Officer with Galway Co Council Sinéad Ní Mhainnín said it was the first time that Tidy Towns, schools and the local authority have worked together to combat gum litter. â€Å“The pledge in school is something that will certainly be promoted around the county by the Council and weâ€â„¢ll also be monitoring specific areas in towns, including Tuam, to ascertain levels of gum littering,â€Â she said.