A SPECIALIST CLEANER could be enlisted to Dublin’s Capel Street once a month if problems with chewing gum waste continues.

Capel Street became permanently pedestrianised in May 2022 following a trial period.

However, there appears to be an uptick in chewing gum waste on the street.

Lord Mayor of Dublin, councillor Ray McAdam, told The Journal that he recently had a meeting with a number of businesses, as well as the gardaí, on keeping the streetscape clean.

Chewing gum waste on Capel Street The Journal The Journal

He said the issue of gum waste was also raised, particularly in relation to a “stretch of Capel Street where it is most notably bad”.

McAdam said the council has a contract with a specialist cleaner who removes gum from city centre streets every two months.

He noted that Capel Street is included in this and that the “next deep-clean gum removal is due this week and should take place across tomorrow and Friday”.

McAdam added that he has asked for the public domain and city centre coordination group to monitor the street for the next two weeks or so following this deep-clean to “see if there is a significant build up”.

“If that two-month period isn’t sufficient, then it should be done on at least a monthly basis for Capel Street, given that it is now a pedestrianised street,” said McAdam.

“If that is found to be the case, then we’ll look to move that to a removal on a monthly basis, opposed to a bimonthly.”

Meanwhile, McAdam remarked that the issue “goes to the heart of what we’re trying to do in terms of cleaning up Dublin”.

Chewing gum waste on Capel Street The Journal The Journal

He said Dublin City Council is “putting huge investment in terms of specialist cleaners and additional equipment”.

“As Lord Mayor, I’m putting a huge emphasis on this to make sure that when my term of office ends, that we have gum-free streets, with a lot less general waste too,” said McAdam.

He said that the City Council is “also encouraging businesses to make sure that they clean up outside their own premises as well”.

However, he added that the City Council “can’t ask them to do more, if we’re not seen to do more ourselves” and that the Council has increased investment in “personnel, equipment and greater enforcement”.

In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said that it has a contract in place for the removal of chewing gum from public streets.

The spokesperson added that “regular inspections are carried out and if additional cleanings are required, these can be arranged outside the normal schedule”.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson remarked that the “problem arises due entirely to members of the public carelessly discarding chewing gum onto the public footpath or street”.

“Regretfully, there is very little that the City Council can do to prevent this type of poor personal behaviour from reoccurring so prevention is largely restricted to National Gum Litter Awareness Campaigns.”