A smartphone application (app) that allows council waste officers to log, photograph and plot flytipping spots has been launched in Wales.

The FlyMapper app, developed by the Welsh Government-sponsored flytipping task group Fly-tipping Action Wales, has been developed to crack down on incidents of waste being illegally deposited on land, which reportedly costs the Welsh taxpayer £2 million a year.

Using a combination of spreadsheets, photography and GPS mapping, the app documents flytipping incidents in the hopes of enabling local authorities to target problem areas, and identify which items are commonly dumped.

It is hoped the app could also help authorities provide evidence in prosecution cases.

App is a 'great benefit for intelligence led intervention'

Speaking of the app, Gary Evans, Programme Manager of Fly-tipping Action Wales, said: “No one organisation can tackle flytipping in isolation which is why we developed Flymapper to improve cross border working and enable our partners to operate in a more intelligence led way, so not a single resource is wasted.

“FlyMapper is more than just a recording system, it is also an effective enforcement tool that will provide local authorities with that robust evidence base which is so vital in ensuring the successful prosecution of these criminals. With over £2 million of tax payers money being spent every year in clean up costs, I don’t think many people would disagree that this system is a vital step change in us creating a future for Wales which is free from flytipping.”

Several Welsh authorities, including Newport City Council, Cardiff City Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, Carmarthenshire County Council, and Denbighshire County, have already adopted the system.

Councillor Ken Critchley, Newport City Council’s cabinet member for infrastructure, commented: “We are very pleased to be working with Fly-tipping Action Wales on their new FlyMapper system. Various incidents have been mapped within the first month, and the benefits are already apparent. The map illustrates the concentrations of incidents, and over time will allow for targeted campaigns to reduce flytipping in those areas.

“The ability to produce records including photographs, exact locations, dates, times and waste types, will be of great benefit for intelligence led intervention, as well as being able to report findings in a clearly understandable format.”

He added that the app will “make it far easier to establish patterns of offender's behaviour and quickly provide sufficient evidence to ensure their prosecution and conviction”.

Harsher waste law penalties

The launch of the app comes amidst other work to reduce flytipping and highlight the costs and environmental impacts caused by the offence.

Last week (15 August), Derby City Council, local newspaper the Derby Telegraph, and volunteer group Normanton Empowerment Team launched a petition calling on government to amend current legislation so that it is easier to prosecute people for flytipping.

Changes include:

• changing the burden of proof for prosecutions from ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ to ‘on the balance of probability’;
• making it a legal requirement for property owners to keep their land free from litter and waste; and
• making it an offence for a person questioned by a council enforcement officer on a litter or flytipping matter to withhold their personal details.

According to the council, these changes would make convictions relating to small-scale flytipping easier (the Environment Agency investigates larger scale flytipping incidents involving more than a lorry load of waste, hazardous waste and/or flytipping by organised gangs of waste criminals), thus reducing costs for the council and taxpayers.

Further to this, the Sentencing Council (SC), a division of the Ministry of Justice, launched sentencing guidelines for judges earlier this year that advised they hand down harsher sentences on those found guilty of committing waste crime.

Introduced by the SC due to a ‘lack of familiarity, particularly among magistrates’ with sentencing for these offences, and to ensure that offenders ‘are hit in the pocket as well as deterred from committing more crime’, the guidelines identify that individuals found to guilty of flytipping should be subject to an ‘unlimited fine’ and/or five years’ custody when tried on indictment; up to £50,000 and/or six months’ custody when tried summarily; and an offence range of conditional discharge to three years’ custody.

The guidelines apply to all offenders aged 18 and over, as well as to organisations.

Find out more about the FlyMapper app or the new sentencing guidelines for waste crime.

A feature on apps and online tools for the waste and resources industry can be found in Resource 77, out now.