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If you were out shopping on New Street at the weekend you may have spotted some strange chalk circles appearing along the busy thoroughfare.

The circles weren't a form of public art or indeed an indication of a major crime scene.

Instead they were a form of protest - against an age old problem which just never seems to go away.

Environmental campaigners were out highlighting the sheer scale of the city's ‘gum disease’ problem - the amount of chewing gum which is dropped on pavements and almost impossible to remove without spending a fortune on mobile jet-wash equipment.

To highlight the sheer scale of the city’s just take a look our shocking video too.

Volunteers working on behalf of the Cleaner Streets Birmingham campaign undertook the back-breaking task of circling every piece of chewing gum which had dumped in New Street at the weekend.

And, boy, did they have to keep bending down even though new Labour leader Coun John Clancy announced in December 2015 that keeping the streets clean was his first priority.

Richard Schneider, a Places community team leader with Groundworks, was joined by fellow volunteers Lizzie Whately, Julie Neville and Zoe Phipps.

(Image: Graham Young)

On the day itself, New Street was looking clean and well swept at first glance – just as Birmingham’s most important shopping street should.

It's the home to businesses from Lloyds Bank to

, the brand new Apple store, the Odeon Cinema , restaurants from Wildwood to Wagamama and Byron Hamburgers as well as coffee shops including Costa , Pret and Second Coffee Cup .

Hotels on the street include the Britannia , the Macdonald Burlington and the Premier Inn , the city's most central budget place to stay.

By the time this tireless ‘gum control lobby’ had finished, there were hundreds – if not thousands – of chalk circles surrounding every piece of gum.

Had anyone been wearing white forensic body suits, you could have been forgiven for thinking they were all marking bullet holes at a crime scene.

(Image: Graham Young)

But this was simply the quickest way to illustrate just much gum there is in BirminGUM .

Richard said: “We’re here to highlight the issue of people dropping gum on the floor.

“We’ve circled the gum just to highlight how much there is.

(Image: Graham Young)

“I’d say we’ve done hundreds if not thousands so far today.

“I’m told it costs anywhere from £1 to £1.50 to clean each piece so I’d hate to think how much it would cost the council to clean all this up.

“There’s plenty of bins around or just wrap it up in a piece of paper and that would save us all a lot of time.

(Image: Graham Young)

“Graphics have also been applied to the side of the litter bins on New Street.

"This will make them more visible so that hopefully more people will use them and not throw gum on the floor.”

Once the team had finished their work, New Street looked something of a mess.

But, as soon as it rained, the chalk circles disappeared down the drains... leaving the gum problem to be tackled in earnest another day.

(Image: Graham Young)

Many pedestrians stopped to talk to the team to discuss the issue and most were supportive.

One builder, though, asked why they weren’t concentrating more on trying to prevent terrorism.

But Zoe Phipps, who works to try to help alcohol dependent people, wasn't having any of it.

"Getting rid of the gum would make the environment better for everyone," she said.

How you can help

(Image: Graham Young)

For more information about helping to make Birmingham a cleaner place in which to live, work and play visit www.hubbub.org.uk (on Twitter @hubbubUK with the hashtag #CleanerBrum) or www.groundworkwm.org.uk (on Twitter @GWWM) or www.cleanerbrum.org.uk or www.birmingham.gov.uk (both on Twitter @BhamCityCouncil).

What do you think?

(Image: Graham Young)

Watch our shocking video then drop us an email to letters@birminghammail.co.uk to let us know your thoughts.

Is Birmingham a clean city?

Or could more be done to make it better still?

What would you do to make a difference?