New AI CCTV cameras to fight fly-tipping in city

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal said fly-tipping would "not be tolerated"

New CCTV cameras with artificial intelligence (AI) will be used in Wolverhampton in an attempt to crack down on fly-tippers.

The AI cameras have 360 degree vision and can recognise when someone is fly-tipping, sending an immediate report to City of Wolverhampton Council.

This means staff will not have to wait for the fly-tipping to be reported to investigate it and can respond immediately, according to the council.

Funding for the new cameras comes from a £49,119 grant from the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).

City of Wolverhampton Council is one of 26 authorities in England to be given a share of nearly £1m grant funding from Defra to continue its approach to tackling fly-tipping.

The cameras can be mounted on any surface and will be used alongside existing CCTV cameras to monitor fly-tipping hotspots.

The images captured by the new cameras will be used on posters and leaflets asking the public to identify those pictured.

If the information provided leads to successful identification, and fines are issued and paid or a prosecution takes place, residents will receive a £100 gift card.

No hesitation to prosecute

Alongside the new cameras the grant funding will also be used to help provide extra infrastructure to prevent vehicles dumping waste in secluded areas that are not owned by anyone.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal said: "Fly-tipping is a blight on the local environment and it will not be tolerated in Wolverhampton.

"We are focused on making our city a cleaner and greener place to live and we will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who thinks it is OK to illegally dump rubbish wherever they please."

He added that the cameras would "help build on the success of our Shop a Tipper campaign, which has already helped reduce fly-tipping by 50% in the areas we have targeted.”