Mobile CCTV cameras are catching flytippers

CARLOW County Council has installed mobile CCTV cameras in six locations across Co Carlow known for fly tipping in order to identify and fine offenders. The cameras came into operation on 1 October and in the first ten days of operation the council was able to identify a number of offenders and issued 25 fines of €150 each. As of 12 November, the council had issued 40 fines.

The cameras are currently installed at St Mary’s Cemetery, Mount Leinster, the Laurels housing estate and the bottle banks in Tullow, Hacketstown and by Carlow Town Hall.

Liam Carroll, senior executive in Carlow County Council’s environment and climate action department, said: “We’ve had people dumping mattresses and bags of rubbish, often at bottle banks, and I suppose before now people were getting away with it as they thought we had no evidence. But now we have the footage.” 

As the CCTV cameras are mobile, the council plans to move them to other locations when they stop detecting offences for a month or so at a particular location. The success of the current operation means that the council is already looking into their next set of locations.

Mr Carroll said that the council decided to install these cameras to both “deter people from littering and to catch and prosecute people” who are littering and dumping illegally.

The council bought the cameras with part of the €97,000 it was granted by the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) to tackle the issue of illegal dumping in Carlow.

Regarding the scale of the problem of fly tipping, Mr Carroll said: “Since January of this year, the department has received 680 complaints, and 495 of those related to litter and waste.” 

The council used some of the funds it was given to remove 51 tons of waste from St Patrick’s Park in Tullow and 26 tons of waste from Father Cullen Terrace in Rathvilly, two locations notorious for illegal dumping.

At present there is a particular problem with people dumpling illegally in the Blackstairs Mountains.

Mr Carroll said: “Recently, we’ve had somebody dumping a large number of tyres up there. They were dumped in a very difficult and inaccessible location, so we are working with local famers to get the tires removed with quad bikes because they are impossible for our staff or our contractors to get to.” 

Because of GDPR and other data protection regulations, the cameras can’t be livestreamed. Footage is captured on an encrypted card in the camera and then the card and recording device has to be taken out and looked at remotely. This means that the council issues fines about two to three weeks after the offences have taken place.