Illegal disposal of commercial waste is being tackled through an scheme developed by CCTV product firm Dallmeier for Viridor Waste Management and Somerset County Council.
Savings are expected from the new system, which analyses automatic number plate recognition data, to identify traders who are avoiding disposal charges by taking their waste to sites intended for householders.
The Dallmeier system photographs all cars and vans entering the civic amenity sites and records their registration numbers. Streamlined extraction and analysis of the data using Dallmeierโs new frequent tipper application allows users to correlate results from all the sites and identify patterns. Dallmeier has worked closely with Viridor in the development of the user-friendly system, seeking to ensure that it will appeal to other councils and waste operators.
A combination of Dallmeier software and hardware, all supplied by Norbain, provides Viridor and Somerset County Council with both a high quality general CCTV system and the specialist tools for recording and analysing the vehicles. The sites use DVS600, DLS6 S1 recorders and ANPR DI Detector units as well as DF3000A-DN and DDF3000AV-DN cameras. Control and management of the CCTV systems is by Dallmeierโs PView and PGuard software, while the ANPR uses the Dallmeier DI-CAPE (Central Application for Pattern Evaluation) management software and the new data extraction system.
Viridor operates nationwide, offering an extensive range of waste and recycling services. It has 18 civic amenity sites in Somerset, which are operated as part of a contract with the council. All the sites have been successfully covered by CCTV for more than two years, but concern about illegal disposal of trade waste prompted the introduction of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) so that repeat offenders can be identified and stopped. The ANPR system is now being rolled out to all 18 sites so that traders cannot evade detection anywhere in the county. Control of the system is being handed over to the councilโs team, headed by David Oaten, ready to begin the clampdown on trade waste.
A nationwide problem
Householders are entitled to free disposal of their waste, while traders are obliged by law to pay for the disposal of commercial waste such as that arising from building work. Some companies attempt to avoid payment by pretending that their waste is domestic in origin. Hence, a substantial amount of trade waste finds its way into civic amenity sites nationwide. "By going down this technology route, we can try and stop it," says Viridor Contract Manager Brian Nicholls. Clamping down on traders is thought unlikely to lead to a surge in fly-tipping, as the fines for this are large and investigation is generally rigorous.
No-one knows what percentage of the waste at council civic amenity sites is being disposed of illegally, but Viridor has already identified some vehicles that are visiting its Somerset sites more than 60 times in a month. There might turn out to be some 200 vehicles that use the sites more than 250 times a year and the Dallmeier software will be able to pick these out from among the 2.5 million total visits. "Itโs much easier to control 200 vehicles than 2.5 million," he says.
Councils and ultimately taxpayers have to foot the bill for haulage and landfill charges of the extra materials and there are considerable savings to be made in clamping down. But it is not just a question of economics. "We do not hold a licence for trade waste. It is illegal for us to take it," says Mr Nicholls.
Building on CCTV
The general CCTV system had been running for two years before introduction of the tailored ANPR. CCTV had primarily been introduced for health and safety reasons as accidents can happen on the busy sites and the recordings are useful for investigating what happened. Some specific sites also have an insurance requirement for CCTV and alarms.
Mr Nicholls had carried out research before choosing Dallmeier. He has long admired German technology and in particular welcomes the ethos of continued product development. He was also keen to work with a major, well-established company. As for Viridorโs ANPR system. Not only had good relationships been built up, but he was also impressed that the development work for the streamlined system would all be carried out in-house.
Relationship
Dallmeier has worked closely with Mr Nicholls in developing the frequent tipper software application. The software is brand new and the requirements were developed from scratch to ensure that it met both the countyโs and Viridorโs requirements as well as being more generally applicable to other councils and operators. Mr Nicholls has already hosted visits from several other councils that were keen to see the system in operation.
The Dallmeier ANPR system records the date and time together with a CCTV picture of the vehicle. The software analyses the data and can be easily interrogated to flag up any suspicious repeat visits. "We can then check the CCTV to confirm that it is a van, and perhaps look at the type of waste it is leaving," explains Mr Nicholls. The information is passed on to the Council, which can then contact the owner and send an inspector if appropriate.
Filtering of the data enables patterns to be identified, such as a van that is regularly visiting several sites to minimise the chance of anyone noticing or vehicles that have visited any site more than 10 times in a month.
Having a photograph as well as an image helps tell legitimate users apart from traders. There are frequent users who do have legitimate reasons for stopping by. "We have some people who call in every week to deliver their bottles," says Mr Nicholls. They will generally be in a car, whereas the problem traders would tend to be in a van.
One of the features is a โwelcome messageโ that displays the vehicleโs registration as it arrives at the barrier. The idea is that people will realise that their number has been taken and will be deterred from abusing the system. Some legitimate users do resent the apparent intrusion of privacy. "But we point out that the CCTV is there for their protection as well," says Mr Nicholls.
Installation was carried out by Perspective CCTV and out-of-hours security monitoring is carried out from its new centre in Essex. Implementation of the networking has also been an important aspect. Specialist company Keyfort set up the virtual private network system that provides the real-time data used by Viridor and Somerset CC.
"Itโs proving to be very straightforward and it works very well," says Mr Nicholls. The scope for reducing waste is already becoming clear. "From the data Iโve looked at Iโve already identified some vehicles that have used the sites 60 times in a single month."
The technology can also spare Viridorโs staff from potential confrontations. People who are suspected of being traders sometimes become hostile, but staff members now know that details have been recorded and the matter can be followed through other channels.
Further applications of the CCTV recordings and ANPR data have also emerged now that such information is available. One of the management tools in the ANPR system is a graph showing the busy periods. Mid-morning might be the busiest time at one site, and the quietest at another. "I will be able to arrange for people to help out at other sites at the busy times once I have sufficient data," says Mr Nicholls.
Having CCTV provides further managerial benefits too, such as allowing instant confirmation of when skips are ready for emptying. "We can then prioritise trucks to the right sites instead of picking up a skip that is only half full," he adds.
The costs of the system will be recouped from a combination of gains in several areas, says Mr Nicholls. "There is a payback period if you are looking to reduce trade waste. There is a payback period if you are looking at health and safety and there is a payback period if you are looking at site management. All these things can be improved by use of the CCTV and ANPR systems."
