TOWN hall bosses are hoping to get a sticky problem all wrapped up.

Fed up with the expense of repeatedly removing gum from the streets, organisers of a clean-up campaign, in Middlesbrough, are making a direct appeal to those who love to chew.

In a bid to dissuade devotees from spitting out or throwing away their spent gum in the street, environmental enforcement officers from Middlesbrough Council yesterday distributed 'gum wraps' - tear off slips of recycled paper - to people spotted chewing in the town.

The hope is that people will put their chewed gum into the slivers of paper and keep it there long enough to find a bin.

A council spokesman said: "Cleaning chewing gum from pavements is an expensive short-term solution. The emphasis is now on raising awareness of the problem, changing attitudes and encouraging responsible disposal of used chewing gum.''

People caught littering pavements with gum face an £80 fine.