Big Brother at the tip: Cameras read number plates to check if families are flouting waste rules

[drummer]

Big Brother at the tip: Cameras read number plates to check if families are flouting waste rules
By OLINKA KOSTER - Last updated at 23:23pm on 4th January 2008

Spy cameras linked to the DVLA driver database are being deployed at dozens more rubbish tips to check if families are flouting waste rules, it emerged last night.

The cameras read number plates, record what is being dumped and log how many times a vehicle visits a dump.

This allows councils to monitor exactly who is using their tips, opening the way for illegal dumpers to be hit by huge fines or even jail.



But critics say the scheme will encourage fly-tipping as residents seek to dodge the cameras, which are normally used by police to track down car thieves.

The Daily Mail can reveal the number of councils installing the spy cameras has doubled in a year, with more expected to follow this year.

Last night civil liberties groups criticised the trend towards surveillance, saying attempts to control refuse disposal have become too intrusive.

At the same time, plans are under way to charge householders for using their local tip as well as penalising them if they put out too much rubbish for collection. Figures obtained by the Daily Mail under the Freedom of Information Act show that ten councils have set up a total of 33 automatic number plate recognition cameras at 29 sites.

Councils claim the main purpose of the recognition cameras is to scare off workmen who pose as householders to get rid of their waste free of charge.

West Sussex has the most cameras with 16 of them at 12 sites, followed by Gloucestershire, with five at five dumps, then North Somerset, which has three at three sites.

West Sussex County Council said they were used for security, deterring trade waste and "complaints monitoring".

"The cameras read and store registration plates to identify high-level users,' said a spokesman.

"A trader illegitimately getting rid of commercial waste on the site is likely to be a much more frequent user.

"It is these people we are trying to identify and take the appropriate

action against them."

In Plymouth, which has one camera at a recycling centre, a spokesman said: "We have brought in this system as it is a centre for householder use only and we are aware there was misuse of this site.

"Essentially this was by traders who were illegally using this site to recycle or dispose of waste to avoid paying for trade waste collection and disposal costs."

A spokesman for the surveillance watchdog, Privacy International, said: "This is another example of CCTV over-kill. I would be very concerned about how these images are used and who has access to them.

There is very little oversight or accountability in the use of CCTV images and people should be outraged at the way their money is being wasted.

"CCTV rarely if ever catches offenders so councils should find a more effective and less intrusive way of solving environmental problems."

Eric Pickles, a Tory front-bencher, said last night: "Once people know about these cameras, I expect we will see further littering of our green and pleasant land as they will just dump their rubbish by the wayside.

"The money spent on these cameras would have been much better spent on tackling fly-tipping. We have more surveillance than any other country in the world and this is just a further intrusion.'

The Daily Mail first revealed spy cameras were being used at tips in November 2006.

Councils already hand out thousands of on-the-spot fines to residents who overfill their wheelie bins, put rubbish out on the wrong day or fail to follow recycling rules.

Under plans announced by Labour last year, householders will be fined if they put out too much rubbish which cannot be recycled and charged for using their local tip.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pagesve/arti...in_page_id=1770

[Guest]

fucking rubbish police... rubbish indeed.

[IanPotter]

I heard of someone the other day who, when buying items from the local supermarket, pays for his items then removes as much non-essential packing and assorted waste from the products he's just bought, stuffs it in a carrier bag and returns it to the cashier. Slightly off topic, but if you can be bothered it's pretty cool, don't you think? If we all did it I reckon we'd cut our waste in half within a year! Point is, most of the crap isn't produced by us at all and yet we're expected to pay for it!

More on topic, I live near a large pond. I fully expect it to become an unofficial landfill in the near future because of these BS regulations. Against that, it really IS the case that many companies (esp small ones), do tip illegally tons of crap into public tips that they really should be paying for with the money they took from the customers in the first instance. I guess the long term solution will be to install cameras around the pond. Plainly stupid logic to the rest of us, but no doubt rather wonderful in terms of the elite agenda.

Finally, up to five years ago both of the tips near me were providing an unofficial service to the community in that their workers were rescuing discarded items from the tip and re-selling them (at a very low cost) to anyone who wanted them. One guy collected all the bicycles and made the best of them, another the TVs and so on. I myself bought several pieces of furniture which needed only a little TLC to turn a handsome profit. Today all of that has been stopped - and one would assume therefore that much more goes into the landfill than it did then.

Crazy world: makes no sense at all.

[Guest]

This world is so messed up that I'd not be surprised if the gov't wanted to put a camera in your backyard to keep you from composting at the same time as the rubbish camera. Ie: damned both ways

[IanPotter]

Damned both ways indeed. We need a plan.

How about we bind tightly each member of our respective governments in 100ft of the red tape they so adore and throw THEM in the landfill, along with their prissy little minions, rent boys, lobbyists, hangers-on and all the security cameras we can find? Six inches of concrete to finish and we're done! Now that's what I call a positive environmental policy!

(Don't worry hand-wringers and do-gooders, I not really suggesting we bury them alive. We'd shoot them first of course).

:wink:

[ploder]

The camera spying is a serious issue. What is even more serious though is that many news sources don't go into why these new regulations are being introduced. Like with ID cards our membership of the undemocratic EU is placing certain obligations on us, in this case limiting rubbish that is dumped in landfill. See here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7067971.stm

Now, you may think that stricter rules on land fill are a good idea, but the true scandal is that we have to put into effect these EU directives whether we like it or not. So much for freedom and democracy. So you see our MPs can't stop the tide of tyranny because it is coming from our membership of the EU, a trully taboo subject over which we have had little say so far!

[mastermg]

Society's laws are just going to get worse and worse if no one does anything about it. We should make big posters saying Big Brother Is Watching and have articles of unjust surveillance and post these in college campuses and the streets/malls/ etc.

[Rosebery]

Quote:Don't worry hand-wringers and do-gooders, I not really suggesting we bury them alive. We'd shoot them first of course.

:wink:

Whyever not - shooting's too good for some of them. :biggrin:

Cheers