Clean Gum is designed to rid the streets of litter and save local councils the £150 million they spend every year on removing it from pavements.

"The advantage of our Clean Gum is that it has great taste, it is easy to remove and has the potential to be environmentally degradable," said Professor Terence Cosgrove.

The key innovation is a polymer that attracts water in saliva -- this forms a thin film around the polymer which prevents it from becoming sticky.

"With this gum, you always get a film of water around it, and that's one of the reasons it's easy to remove and in some cases doesn't stick at all," Professor Cosgrove said.

The effort has been so successful that a company called Revolymer has now been spun off from the University to commercialise the research.

As well as being tested on the streets of Bristol, the gum was also stuck in the hair of the CEO's daughter.

Unlike conventional gum that has to be cut out with scissors, the non-stick gum was removed after several applications of shampoo.

“I am delighted with our progress," said Roger Pettman, CEO of Revolymer.

"In eighteen months we have converted UK technology into a commercial product significantly changing the pollution issues facing chewing gum."

“Removable, degradable chewing gum is becoming a reality."

This new approach has now yielded £2m in venture capital from Swarraton Partners and their co-investors Top Technology Ventures, the venture capital subsidiary of IP Group plc.

As part of the deal, Stephen Brooke, managing partner of Swarraton Partners, is joining the company as a non-executive director.

"I have been following the company for some time and was impressed with the speed with which it has moved from developing technology to developing products," Brooke said.

With other investments from institutions and private investors, Revolymer now has a war chest totalling £10 million.

As well as helping to commercialise Clean Gum, the company will also use the money to finance research into using polymers for detergents and drug delivery systems.

But first they have to overcome the hurdle of regulatory approval from the EU so the polymer can be used as an additive in chewing gum -- which could signal the end of a frustrating problem for local councils.

"Of all the things that end up on our streets, chewing gum is the hardest to shift," said Leith Penny, director of environment and leisure at Westminster council.

"The problem with campaigns to stop people disposing of chewing gum irresponsibly is that they do nothing to stigmatise the behaviour."

"The campaigns that did -- for drink-driving and dogs fouling the streets -- worked very well."