It's a wrap

Aggie, one half of the dynamic 'grime busting' TV duo snoops around some of the most horrifyingly filthy homes imaginable and exposes the deepest, dirtiest corners. But, today she is asking Hertsmere 'how clean is your street?'

The message comes as the Council's campaign to rid the Borough of nuisance ‘gummers’ wraps up.

Aggie Mackenzie from the hit Channel 4's 'How clean is your house?' backed Hertsmere's campaign to rid the streets of gum litter: "I fully supported Hertsmere Borough Council's initiative in ridding the streets of chewing gum - it's about time chewers got the message that it's just not acceptable anymore to drop gum on the pavements. All ratepayers benefit in the end."

Before the launch of the campaign on 22 May ten hotspot areas were cleansed of chewing gum and a count was conducted after two weeks to work out the gumdrop rate.

These hotspot areas were monitored during the five-week campaign and a further count is planned in another four weeks to measure the extent of chewing gum litter and the success of the initiative.

Councillor Morris Bright, portfolio holder for Waste Management, said: “Gum litter was identified as a problem in Hertsmere and residents had told us that they want us to do more about the way our streets are inconsiderately littered and fouled.

“This campaign, funded by Defra, has allowed us to highlight the problem and positively tackle the problem of gum litter in Hertsmere. I just hope people continue to remember the rip it, wrap it, bin it message.”

The Council spends approximately £300,000 a year on street cleaning, which includes gum litter, to tackle the estimated half a million pieces of chewing gum that is spat on the streets of the Borough every year.

Steve Burton, Head of Waste Management, said: "From our monitoring, we have made a positive stance against gum litter but we won't know the full extent until the final gum count. There are other methods to dispose of gum, so throwing it on the floor is just lazy and dirty. I hope that this campaign raised the issue of gum litter and that by thinking about the problem we can stop people spitting it on the floor.

"My message throughout the campaign has been to use a ‘wrap-it’, or tear off the corner of a newspaper or use a tissue and keep hold of it until you come across a bin."

The ‘thanks for binning your gum when you’re done’ campaign raised awareness through bus stop and billboard advertising, 17 road shows across the Borough and leaflets.

Steve adds: "I am delighted Aggie supported our campaign and asked people to think about gum litter. She is right, it is not acceptable and we are trying to change behaviour."

Aggie, who often reveals shocking facts about the horrors that may be festering in the carpet, the bugs sharing our pillows and the microbes multiplying in our fridges highlights her gum related filthy facts:

· 20 million people in the UK use chewing gum every year
· Street cleaning in the UK costs £413m - this is paid for by council taxes
· A piece of chewing gum costs about 3p, but costs 10p to remove from the street
· The Gum Buster machines cost £17,000 each and they take about two minutes to remove one piece of gum
· In the UK alone more than 935 million packs of gum are chewed every year, and many chewers are dropping or spitting their discarded gum on the streets.

Click here for more information on the 'thanks for binning your gum when you're done' campaign.