Akihabara News (Tokyo) — An experiment regarding the use of drones to detect illegal trash dumping has been conducted in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture.
The number of confirmed illegal dumping cases in the city is more than a thousand per year, and it is regarded as a major problem. The city has set up surveillance cameras at various locations and is working with private patrols and the police to prevent illegal dumping.
As a new element in this law enforcement campaign, the city is mulling the use of drones that can patrol from the air.
The experiment was conducted to confirm the usefulness of drones in detecting illegally disposed garbage in places where it is difficult for people to enter, such as in the mountains and along streams.
This experiment was conducted with the cooperation of Space One, a drone operator that has a cooperation agreement with the city for drone operations in times of disaster.
As the location for the experiment, the Ose Sports Park in Koriyama city, a site where illegal dumping has occurred in the past, was selected.
The pilot from Space One operated a drone with a camera to search for simulated dumped garbage set up on the grounds beforehand. Only 1 out of 10 pieces of trash were found, revealing that more work needs to be done to make this tool effective.
Specifically, it was judged that improvements such as enlarging the monitor are necessary to make it easier to locate the trash. The city will also consider conducting the experiment in another season in the future, when snow isn’t on the ground.
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