Fly-tipping costs councils hundreds of thousands of pounds every year — but one tech-savvy firm believes it’s devised a solution to help eradicate the bulk of dumping for good.

John Roberts, chief service officer at Kingdom LAS, told KentOnline how its WasteWatch technology, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) cameras, has already seen the “disappearance” of large fly-tipping incidents in one Kent town.

In 2021, Dartford council enlisted the help of the firm to install new, high-tech cameras at two fly-tipping hotspots in Birchwood Road, near Wilmington, and New Barn Road, Southfleet, in a bid to crackdown on offenders dumping large amounts of waste.

It came after the local authority saw a surge in discarded rubbish at its recycling points due to closed waste facilities and household clear-outs during the pandemic.

Every week, its officers were having to clear around five tonnes of waste which was routinely unceremoniously dumped, including mounds of bin bags, clothes, soil and dirt, builder’s materials and even raw meat.

According to data from the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), Dartford council recorded a total of 3,474 fly-tipping incidents in the borough in 2020/21.

Yet, in 2023/24, three years after the WasteWatch scheme was introduced, the number had dropped by 56% to 1,517 reports.

In the same year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed the local authority had spent £223,718 on fly-tipping removals across the borough.

It also disclosed that the road most affected by illegal dumpings was Leonard Avenue, in Swanscombe, with 122 call-outs to the street in the past five years.

Speaking to KentOnline, John said the council had been dealing with around 50 fly-tipping investigations every week, but in the past three years it’s seen an “absolute reduction” following their intervention.

He added: “For Dartford council, it has seen an absolute reduction in its fly-tipping in those hotspot areas. It has completely disappeared.

“The cameras have had a lasting impact in making sure that the problem does not come back. It has massively changed the landscape.

“It has had a really good impact, and hopefully the community is seeing the benefits from it because they do not have to look at and deal with the issues that come from fly-tips that are blighting the landscape.”

According to Kingdom Systems, officers were dealing with up to 30 fly-tipping incidents a week in Birchwood Road alone, but now only have the occasional fly-tip to deal with.

Similarly, in New Barn Road, although there were fewer reports, there is now only the odd incident of littering or fly-tipping, according to the firm.

Two more cameras have since been installed in Joyce Green Lane, which was plagued by huge fly-tips almost daily, and Hawley Road, which saw substantial dumpings of garden and builders waste and white goods.

However, now, John said there are only occasional recycling bags left on the highways to deal with.

He claimed it was down to the new technology, which has sped up the whole process, taking away offenders’ excuse of “I saw something there, so I thought I could put it there”, as it is cleared much quicker due to detection by the camera.

This is because the AI cameras look for a change within each frame and are programmed to know what to look out for to be able to notify CCTV security industry authority (SIA) trained operatives.

The team then review the footage to decide whether it is fly-tipping and then alerts the council, who carry out checks with the DVLA, due to the ANPR technology which records licence plates.

Kingdom Systems’ officers act as a support for the local authority’s in-house team and help with interviews, collecting evidence, or footage from other places.

The council will then choose whether to issue a fine or take the case through the courts, depending on the level of the offence.

And it’s not just the scourge of fly-tipping the cameras are helping to clampdown on.

In Dartford, the technology has also been deployed to deter car meets and so-called boy racers.

Last year, the AI tech was installed at Crossways Boulevard, in Greenhithe, where there have been historic and long-standing problems with anti-social motorists.

But John claims the issue was resolved almost overnight with the installation of the cameras.

He added: “The technology is working to make the process quicker. The cameras also cannot be hidden, especially in Dartford, where the towers stand around three to four meters tall, and the signs that have been put up as well.

“It has been used across the board in Dartford, and we would love to see it support the rest of the councils all over Kent.

“It would be fantastic to see and have the same reaction and results, and drive long-lasting change to reduce the amount of fly-tips we are seeing.

“Fly-tipping is a big problem. It affects local authorities up and down the country and costs hundreds of millions of pounds to go out and clear this waste.

“If it was not being spent there, it can go back into other areas and provide services that we all would love to see and need.

“It also affects our farmers in the UK because when it is fly-tipped on private land, it is their responsibility. It will eventually put farmers out of business because these costs are extortionately high.

“We are happy that we can drive change and start to see those reductions, and hopefully start to see some long-term change over the next few years.”

Another problem environmental investigators are facing is the rise of organised crime groups who dump waste they have been paid to rid of.

John explained: “We are also starting to see an awful lot of social media groups where people say, ‘I have got this waste in my garden, who can come and collect it?’ and it goes.

“Someone comes to collect it for £50 or £20, and it ends up being part of a fly-tip.

“The rules are quite clear. As members of the public, what we should be asking for is a waste transfer note, which outlines what it is that the person has taken, they are taking responsibility and where they are taking it.

“If you have that and your waste does show up and there is something that leads it to you, then you are not liable to conviction because you have done everything that you can possibly have done.

“We can then go after those who are committing these offences.”

He estimates waste in the UK still costs around £138 a ton to get rid of.

“They [ the offenders]are not paying for that, they are dumping it,” John adds. “There are people who are making thousands, if not millions of pounds, around the UK in these types of situations.”

He’s calling on people to always ask for the paperwork.

“It helps with our investigations to make sure we are finding the culprits and stopping this from becoming a bigger issue, which over the last few years has been growing,” he added.

“It is a really easy question, and if they say no and cannot provide it, find someone else. It is the quickest way we will start to see reductions in fly-tips around the UK.

“Hopefully, it will take the big organised crime groups out of the picture so that we can remove fly-tipping from our country.”

More than 26,000 fly-tipping incidents were reported across Kent in 2023/24, according to Defra’s latest available data.

Of these, only a third were acted upon by either issuing fines, seeking prosecution or warning notices.