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Welcome to our report, brought to you by Culture's KWN team.

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Over the last few weeks we've been studying social responsibility and have found a problem

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that affects everyone and costs councils thousands of pounds every year.

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But it's not what you might think.

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Come with us on a journey to a nearby city that's had enough.

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Every year, £4.5 million is spent cleaning up England's streets.

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Money that could be better used in education or other community services.

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It improves memory and neutralises stomach acid.

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It counteracts the effect of air pressure when flying.

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And there are 300,000 pieces on Oxford Street alone.

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Have you guessed what it is yet?

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Over the past week we've recorded our KWN team's own misfortunes with the culprit,

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which I'm sure you can identify with.

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Getting stuck in my hair.

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Getting stuck in my face.

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I had to use an ice pack to get it off.

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It's stuck to my pants.

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I once fell asleep with it in my mouth and nearly choked to death on it.

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Oh, it got stuck in my pants from year 10.

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Not again, it's stuck in my hair.

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Stuck to my socks.

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It's down my brace and I've got it wrapped around my brace and I've spent ages trying to pick it off.

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Choking on it.

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In the UK alone, 200 million of us chomp our way through 935 million packets of chewing gum every year.

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It's my jaw that's thinking about it.

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Manchester City Council agreed to talk to us, but they didn't want to be filmed.

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They discussed the whole chewing gum issue and here's what we learnt.

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An on-the-spot £80 fine can be issued.

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It's enforced by the street environment wardens.

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So the council are cracking down.

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In the last year, 280 people were fined.

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67 of these chose to pay the fine, the rest going to court.

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As well as a lot of publicity, Manchester City Council also started issuing these last year.

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They are handy gum pouches where if a bin is not available, chewing gum can be placed in the little compartment until a bin is available to empty them.

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They are a great idea, but all the City Council need is them to be more widely used.

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I'm off to the streets of Manchester now to find out how many people know about the fine.

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I didn't know that, no.

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I didn't.

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No.

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No.

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Yeah.

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No.

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No, I didn't.

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Follow it usually.

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I usually spit it on the floor.

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All down are good.

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Put it in the bin.

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You put it in the bin?

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Really?

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I put everything in the bin.

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I never litter unless it's apple core or if it's orange peel.

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Put it in the bin?

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Yeah, put it in the bin.

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Put it in the bin?

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Follow it usually.

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So as you can see, social responsibility takes a number of different forms.

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Consideration for others and the environment are just two major factors.

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We've covered both.

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A big problem could be solved if next time you chew, you are responsible and bin it, don't spit it.