Drones to track fly-tippers and crush offenders' vehicles

Mat Stewart, of SunSkips, supports the use of drone surveillance to identify and apprehend fly-tippers and explained why this is needed: “Fly-tipping is a blight on the landscape and people don’t want to see it. It often becomes the landowner's issue if it’s fly tipped on their land and it becomes a cost to them.”

“The use of drones can only be a good initiative, if the drone footage is good, then it is quite clear what they are doing. Anything that makes people think twice is a positive.”

“Fly-tipping is the wrong thing to do and rather than there being a long, drawn-out court process, with the use of drones it will be done and dusted.”

There are clear health and environmental risks involved in the burning of plastic, which is often how people deal with fly-tipping in their communities.

“There is a risk that people will set fire to the fly-tipped waste, so there is a risk of pollution from plastics being burned in fires.”

“There is the potential for hazardous materials to get into the environment where they shouldn’t be, such as asbestos, batteries leaking and paint.”

Burning waste not only causes air pollution but can also impact human health. According to a University of Leeds study published in Nature, burning plastic comes with "substantial” threats to human health, including birth defects.

“The cost of the public taking someone to court for fly-tipping a few hundred pounds' worth of waste is not proportionate to the cost of what they are doing. You are not going to keep buying a car to keep fly-tipping. Anything quick that can be dealt with rapidly will be a deterrent.”

Mat Stewart of SunSkips concludes with a message to fly-tippers,: “Think about the consequences, is the short-term gain of fly-tipping worth the long-term cost of losing your vehicle or facing prosecution?

“We all have a responsibility to dispose of waste responsibly — the risks to health, the environment, and your future simply aren’t worth it.”