Leading security and business intelligence providers partner up to tackle the huge problem that is fly-tipping. Two local councils across the UK are already using their solution, WasteWatch Cam.
UK Council’s Approach to Fly-Tipping
Councils in England dealt with nearly one million instances of fly-tipping in the year running up to the start of the pandemic, and the impact of the numerous lockdowns since then has worsened the problem still. Closed waste facilities and many houses deciding to have a ‘clear out’ has led to mountains of household rubbish, electrical goods, construction waste and vehicle parts piling up on our pavements, roads, highways and countryside.
But three leading businesses have combined their skill set and collaborated to create a bespoke solution – WasteWatch Cam. Created by Business Insight 3, Kingdom Systems and Kingdom L A Support.
WasteWatch Cam
WasteWatch Cam is a camera system that harnesses advanced technology combined with real-time number plate recognition to not only detect the fly-tipping offence but also see to it that the individual is held accountable.
Experts in human, vehicle and object detection, Business Insight 3 (Bi3) created the state-of-the-art technology behind the camera solution through seamlessly combining award-winning, enterprise grade video analytics which learns scenes and objects through patented algorithms, with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). The technologies are linked via a software application that has been created specifically for this purpose.
Kingdom Systems, which is part of the larger Kingdom Services Group, then set about physically building and designing the camera hardware that this technology could sit within.
Once in place, the camera not only detects the car or person on-site, as well as the item they are discarding of, but also identifies the offender in real-time. This data is then raised as an instant alert, with all the supporting details, passed to the experienced team at Kingdom L A Support who take immediate action in the form of fines, warnings and – where that is not followed through – prosecution.
Due to this, WasteWatch Cam is a completely end-to-end solution where every part of the process is managed with little to no input needed from the local authority and its stretched resources.
Cost-Effective Solution
This makes it very beneficial financially too. Previously, authorities would need to spend time hunting through the rubbish to find any proof of addresses that could hold the fly-tipper accountable, then spend money clearing the rubbish. WasteWatch Cam, on the other hand, is often completely free to councils as long as a certain, reasonably low number of offences are detected.
And it seems councils are already buying into the idea, with two already on board and currently using the system – these being Barnet and Dartford. In fact, within just the first week of being installed, Dartford’s WasteWatch captured and reported seven fly-tipping offences – one of which is due to go to court in the next few months. Due to this success, the council has chosen to implement another system in the area.
