Northumbrian Water's Bin The Wipe team have now pulled one tonne of wipes out of the North East sewer network.

A milestone that is the equivalent of over 200,000 unflushable wipes.

All of which were causing blockages and sewer flooding in homes and damaging the environment.

Launched in 2020, the award-winning project aimed to reduce blockages by 40 per cent after finding 64 per cent of 15,600 sewer blockages were caused by wet wipes.

The results show this goal is being surpassed annually, highlighted by a 79 per cent reduction in North Tyneside and 77 per cent reduction in Washington.

The team is working everyday investigating blockages and using innovative tools to monitor the misdirection of wipes in manholes.

They establish the direction of flow, allowing the problem to be narrowed down to a specific street or even individual households.

Post-visit, the number of wipes in the network have reduced by up to 91 per cent in the 'hot spot' areas.

The project has approached over 433,000 households, reducing the potential for flooding into homes and protecting the environment.

Hexham Courant: A milestone that is the equivalent of over 200,000 unflushable wipes

Simon Cyhanko, head of wastewater networks at Northumbrian Water, said: "We knew we could have a big impact with this project, but to pull out a tonne’s worth of wet wipes is a milestone for us."

This community support, allied with industry and legislative backing has sparked a national 'Bin the Wipe campaign' which began in 2023.