This use case is from South London Partnership – InnOvaTe “IoT” Project.
Outcome
Reduce and deter the number of fly tipping occurrences, which cost the council money to remove the rubbish and has a significant detrimental impact on the residents and their enjoyment of their home.
Sectors
Landlord Services, Highways, Enforcement.
Key Stakeholders
Landlord Services.
Summary
Overview
There were two main IoT trials for fly tipping; one in Kingston and the other in Sutton.
SLP (South London Partnership) designed these trials for Sutton and Kingston with the goal of furnishing officers with the data on fly-tipping offences at their selected sites, and to work with enforcement teams to act on the information as appropriate. Fly-tipping is an issue affecting many local authorities. The sensors, provided by iDefigo and Vodafone, rely on a machine-learning back-end function which learns to detect when rubbish has been dumped and then triggers a video recording of the offence. Enforcement officers can then review the footage from the sensor to determine whether an offence was genuinely committed, and can issue a fine if warranted.
The sensors were accompanied by correlated signage notifying potential fly-tippers that the area was being monitored.
About the Author
The InnOvaTe Programme is an Internet of Things initiative by South London Partnership (SLP) to “pilot and research” IoT across the 5 London boroughs of Croydon, Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The programme looks at ways to generate economic growth, support local businesses, help people live better, healthier lives and assist with addressing the climate emergency. The project assessed 150 IoT ideas for the councils concerned, implementing 48 of them successfully over 18 months. The programme was formally completed in March 2023.
Case Study Challenge
Fly tipping is an issue affecting many local authorities and this pilot was conceived after the ‘Let’s Scrap It’ scheme in Sutton, which saw anti-fly tipping signs posted across the borough, actually exacerbated rather than diminished the problem. This experience indicated that enforcement will be necessary to curb the problem, although officers acknowledge that fly tipping is likely to be largely relocated rather than completely eradicated.
Implementation
Use Case Design Objectives
The sensors, provided by Idefigo and Vodafone, rely on a machine-learning back-end function which learns to detect when rubbish has been dumped and then trigger video recording of the offence. Enforcement officers can then review the footage from the sensor to determine whether an offence was genuinely committed and can issue a fine if warranted. Although the council might generate some income through the fines, the hope is that publicising the successes of the scheme will act as a deterrent to other potential offenders. The sensors were accompanied by correlex signage notifying potential fly tippers that the area is being monitored.
Commissioning (budget/procurement)
Mid 2021, a selection of relevant suppliers listed on the Crown Commercial Services (CSS) Spark dynamic purchasing systems (DPS) were invited to tender a competitive process managed by the Sutton Procurement team. The contract was awarded to Vodafone and iDefigo.
The budget range for the Kingston trial was £100-150K. The Kingston trial lasted just under two years until it was absorbed into BAU as the Councillors and Housing Officers felt there was considerable value in continuing to address issues on their estates.
Deployment (what / who / where / how long)
In Sutton, this scheme targeted 12 hotspot areas to be monitored for potential fly tipping offences. A total of 29 sensors, attached to lamp posts, were deployed; eight on the high street and a further 21 in outlying fly tipping hotspots. In an attempt to deter would-be vandals, the sensors were placed on a routine night-check and the sensitivity of the anti-tamper alarms was increased. The intention was for the sensors to be moved each quarter to the latest dumping hotspots as fly tippers change their routines.
In Kingston the focus was slightly different. Kingston Homes manage a number of housing sites in the borough and are struggling to overcome fly tipping issues at some of their locations. Most of the refuse appears to be industrial, construction, or commercial waste, likely dumped by professional waste removal services. As a result, it is often hazardous and has to be sorted and disposed of correctly, which is a more complex and costly process. This scheme targeted 10 hotspot areas, using 20 sensors, across Kingston Homes sites to be monitored for potential fly tipping offences. Final Kingston sensor relocations and removals were completed in December 2022.
Technology Implemented
The suppliers of the sensors were Idefigo and Vodafone.
Outcomes
Results / Key Findings
Kingston:
The information produced by cameras is allowing officers to produce heatmaps to identify its dumping hotspots and record the levels of rubbish dumped in each area.
Councillors and residents have been very supportive of this effort.
Broadly speaking, the sensors have been an effective deterrent for fly-tippers and activity has decreased.
BBC Click has covered this initiative due to its innovative approach to addressing fly-tipping.
Public and political interests have remained high.
Surprisingly, once informed by data, many officers found out that the prime time for fly-tipping was different from what was commonly conceived.
Data from cameras are allowing officers to alert the enforcement teams who can act on it. In some cases the majority of fly tipping occurred Tuesday to Thursday 10:00 to 13:00 which was very insightful.
We also noticed the trading of waste between ‘waste companies’ with whatever they didn’t want left behind. This was something we broke by very closely monitoring known problem areas
Many Councillors would like to keep the system in motion. InnOvaTe has provided a revolution in fly-tipping reduction capabilities.
Data is empowering residents and borough officers to address fly-tipping issues
Sutton:
Not as successful in Sutton as a few false alerts from the sensors were observed.
The trial was not seen as cost effective due to the Enforcement team not being active in investigations which meant there was not a useful reduction in fly-tipping.
The usage of the iDefigo data is low with respect to this UC.
Additionally resident engagement was also low meaning that the trial didn’t have the community support to underpin action.
Benefits / Usefulness of Data
The sensors were intended to act primarily as a deterrent, though may also be able to generate images that the enforcement team could use for enforcement purposes.
Fly-tipping sensors were deployed in December 2021, but data collection was in its early stages. The AI needed to detect fly-tipping took 6-8 weeks to train, so data output was not usable until early 2022.
Once the data output became more usable, officers still needed to sift through alerts to determine how many were useful. The programme team pushed for a way to make alerts more concentrated so that 80% of them were actual cases of fly-tipping.
Councillors and residents were very supportive of this effort and it showed residents views where listened to and acted upon.
The prime time for fly-tipping was Tuesday-Thursday during daylight hours. It happened that the offenders were dumping waste they had retrieved from private homes under the guise of disposing of it lawfully. The most active of these waste disposal offenders had been relying on the help of family members who were tenants at the housing estate. The offender was identified, and his case was under discussion within the enforcement team.
Officers acknowledged fly-tipping could have moved to locations where no sensors were placed. Indeed, residents still reported fly-tipping across the borough.
After feedback from residents regarding fly-tipping on a Kingston estate, Kingston Landlord Services was keen to spend their own budget to purchase sensors to deal with adhoc fly-tipping events. This decision was proof of the power of data.
An officer from West Berkshire saw InnOvaTe discussed on the BBC CLICK Programme and contacted Kingston officers to discuss the fly-tipping trial. They wanted to understand the extension of the trial’s success in reducing fly-tipping and the prosecution success rate.
A Waste Enforcement Contractor in Kingston worked as part of the fly-tipping task force to investigate hotspot locations across the borough. Their work was successful and they were looking to expand their remit.
After the BBC CLICK article, WASTE expressed interest in assisting with waste enforcement linked to IoT notifications and other work on the estates. Kingston officers aimed to closely monitor one area where fly-tipping and ASB had been increasing.
Kingston made sensor renewal part of their budget setting process for 2023.
Some fly-tipping continued until officers changed their tactics and put more cameras in some areas. This change of strategy helped identify the main fly-tipper, who was contacted. He has been involved with other offences.
Another camera was moved, leading to the identification of 3 fly-tippers.
Kingston Environmental Enforcement Lead had investigated allegations of fly tipping, illegal disposal of waste, anti-social behaviour and breach of tenancy agreements. A Community Protection Notice (Warning) letter will be served, outlining that all the above activities must cease and desist. A second letter will be served outlining the breaches and consequences of contravening the tenancy agreement. Kingston officers noticed other areas that could attract fly-tipping in the near future and have enquired whether IoT cameras could be placed in those locations.
Lessons Learned
Kingston:
A Kingston Councillor came and introduced herself during the installations, and revealed that neither the heads of the fly tipping task force nor Kingston Homes had informed Councillors about the installation. Communication is essential!
There have been complaints from Kingston officers of an increasing number of alerts despite no fly-tipping or rubbish. The supplier needs to be continually engaged!
Since the enforcement team is pressured with many issues, enforcement has been slow on fly-tippers. A wall of shame or similar strategies would be useful to deter potential fly-tippers.
According to a Kingston officer, some senior involvement was needed to improve the trial further, although there has been significant progress with policy learning.
The main concerns were in Sutton:
One of the cameras in Sutton malfunctioned, and it was up to Sutton Borough to spot the issue and notify iDefigo, who fixed it remotely. The programme team questioned why iDefigo did not spot the issue earlier and fix it without needing to be told.
Once the AI was refined to stop providing alerts for any activity at the bins, it appeared that images became less frequent as opposed to more targeted.
iDefigo did not notify officers when new cameras were available/online, and was not sending emails/alerts to all officers involved in the trial.
There was limited improvement regarding the alerts issues mentioned above so SLP stepped in to liaise with Vodafone / iDefigo regarding these issues.
iDefigo eventually took steps to solve the problems. iDefigo proposed a plan of action and then made the proposed changes. Subsequently, iDefigo noticed a significant improvement on the number and quality of images coming through. iDefigo also fixed some power management issues.
Due to this, Sutton Council decided not to extend this trial due to funding constraints, so the trial ended in January 2023. The trial was not seen as cost effective due to the Enforcement team not being active in investigations which meant there was not a useful reduction in fly-tipping. The usage of the iDefigo data was low with respect to the Sutton trial.
Conclusion
The Kingston Fly Tipping trial was the biggest single IoT programme success. The trial saw an 80% reduction in fly tipping and was so popular with residents and Councillors that money was found to continue and expand the trial. It really grabbed the attention of the communities, as they saw how people took advantage of bin stores, and catching people commercially dumping asbestos and mattresses etc was brilliant. Additionally, we stopped the trading of waste between criminal gangs as they knew they’d be caught. In the case of one site off the A3, after years of blight they finally broke the back of traveller groups dumping waste in their streets.
Sutton believed that the sensors were not providing the service intended or desired. Despite an initial enthusiasm, Housing Officers decided that the prevention of fly tipping was not a priority. Therefore, within weeks, and despite vast amounts of training support, it quickly became apparent we should remove the cameras as no one looked at the events. Sadly the users then complained as residents would notice the cameras had gone! In the end, as they weren’t being monitored, the units were removed.
