Completion of a pilot project to combat illegal waste disposal through artificial intelligence and satellite imagery

Important findings on illegal dumping in Cyprus have been highlighted by the pilot implementation of the DumpMapper service in municipalities of Cyprus. The service used satellite imagery and artificial intelligence techniques to identify more than 800 illegal landfills and waste piles in these municipalities between April and July 2024.

The aim of the pilot was to address the growing problem of illegal dumping, which is a perennial problem for almost all municipalities in Cyprus. To achieve this, PERIOPSIS – a spin-off of the CYENS Centre of Excellence – made the DumpMapper service available to the competent services of the Municipalities of Nicosia, Larnaka, Lakatamia, Paphos, Ypsonas and Livadia in order to identify and monitor new dumping points within their administrative boundaries. The service also provided an online portal that allowed for the management and coordination of the cleaning process by the relevant departments and their staff.

A total of 820 dumping incidents were identified, ranging from rubbish heaps of less than one square meter to larger landfills with a volume exceeding 10 square meters. The incidents detected by the DumpMapper service are summarized in the table below:

A higher frequency of illegal landfills was detected in municipalities with a larger geographical area and less construction and habitation, such as Ypsonas and Lakatamia, indicating the higher cleaning needs in these municipalities. In addition, a significant amount of waste was found near public roads, while in larger municipalities several smaller volumes of garbage were observed near roads and dead ends.

The completion of this pilot project marks an important milestone in the fight against illegal dumping of garbage in Cyprus. The pilot provided important findings that can be further used to inform the municipal waste management strategy, taking into account the specific needs of municipalities and communities in Cyprus. This initiative is a global innovation that is an excellent example of collaboration between local public bodies and the private sector, using emerging technologies to solve an important problem for Cyprus and many other countries.

For PERIOPSIS, the successful completion of the pilot is an important step in expanding its DumpMapper service abroad, starting with municipalities in Greece and India that have expressed their interest in using the service, initially on a pilot basis.