Waste Management
The Surveillance Trends in Waste Management You Need To Know About.
Mar 7, 2023 • min read
CCTV plays a crucial role in the security of every industry, but waste disposal and recycling facilities have their own particular needs that only a truly modern security system can meet. Waste disposal sites contain items of great resale value, making them a target of thieves. Raw materials including scrap metals, wiring and car batteries, act as a magnet to criminal activity, with the rate of reported thefts growing year on year. But the threat doesn’t stop there. The nature of the business means vast quantities of hazardous materials in storage can also present a substantial health and safety and fire risk. Smart, 24/7 surveillance is an absolute must, and in this article we look at how modern security trends are radically shaking up the industry.
Owners of waste management businesses must rely upon a trustworthy surveillance system to reduce the risk of theft and fire, in addition to enforcing health and safety policy. Concept Pro’s combination of thermal cameras, advanced AI and automated alerts, ensure that sites are securely monitored; and with proper security intelligence, false alarms are substantially reduced, providing greater protection of business assets, improved protection for site workers, and minimal down time.
Benefits of Concept Pro’s Systems for the Waste Management Industry
There are innumerable benefits to having a smart surveillance system at your waste disposal site, which include, but are not limited to:
- Protection from intruders
- Health and safety management
- Detection of staff or visitors not wearing correct PPE
- Detection of fallen persons
- Automatic number plate recognition for vehicles entering your premises
- Thermal detection to detect heat build-ups before they become fires
- Monitoring of vehicles breaking on-site speed restrictions
There are approximately 300 waste site fires per year in the UK, with heat build-up and arson the two primary causes. Waste site fires are especially tough to put out, posing a great risk to the lives of firefighters, staff, and even residents in the wider local area. Thermal cameras are the perfect way to mitigate the risk posed by fires, but are also a vital tool in the fight against theft.
Fires at waste management and recycling plants typically start as hotspots, then progress to smouldering, before bursting into flames. Thermal imaging cameras can detect these hot spots before the smouldering stage, and can automatically trigger your fire suppression systems, forewarn site managers and other key stakeholders, or alert the emergency services directly. The specific response is defined by the customer as part of the consultation process prior to the CCTV system installation. Footage is recorded and can be accessed in up to 4K of detail from anywhere in the world, where it is saved on secure Cloud-based servers for later access and sharing.
The Fight Against Theft
Thermal cameras provide an excellent solution to the issue of theft. Traditionally waste facilities and scrap yards have proven a popular target of criminal activity, as they’re often dark with multiple hiding places. Thermal imaging, allied with motion sensor technology, can remove these potential advantages to thieves, allowing operators or AI to locate and identify criminal behaviour from significant distances, again, automatically alerting the appropriate persons or authorities.
We have a lot of high value raw materials on site, including hazardous waste such as lithium batteries that are a considerable fire risk. Concept Pro’s CCTV system provide a 24-hour solution we know we can rely on to keep our site safe.”
"Concept Pro’s Head of Product Development, JP, explains how algorithms are being customized to overcome those challenges specific to the waste management sector.
“Waste management sites require a watertight surveillance system. From the potential of fires to the ever present risk of theft, it’s so important to invest in a system that you can depend upon. But the advantages of modern technology don’t stop there. By incorporating AI and Deep Learning, you can take site security to whole new level. Car licence plate recognition, facial recognition, behavioural analysis of both people and vehicles, are just a few of the options that can help business manage the security of their sites, when they’re both manned and unmanned. Management will know exactly what is happening at all times, enabling them to stop threats such as fire, theft, and safety violations, in their tracks.”
What Can Concept Pro Deep Learning Plus Analytics Do For Me?
With Deep Learning Plus algorithms you can unlock the true potential of a fully-integrated CCTV solution. With features such as face and mask detection, facial recognition, people counting, thermal human detection, PPE safety detection, license plate recognition, enhanced vehicle detection, active privacy masking, fallen persons, behavioural patterns and more. In fact there’s almost nothing Deep Learning Plus can’t do. Concept Pro’s industry-leading software has a comprehensive list of human and vehicle detection algorithms, perfect for false alarm filtering. But it’s designed to solve a multitude of waste management challenges that go far beyond just false alarm filtering and human detection, its potential is limited by the imagination alone.
Our advanced suite of algorithms can be fully customized to suit your needs – for more information click here.
Interested in Customizing your rules – here’s how the process works
We caught up with Debbie Carter, Business Development Manager at Concept Pro, to understand how the process works for customizing algorithms for waste management solutions.
“Firstly, we hold a consultation meeting with new clients which can be face-to-face at Concept Pro locations across the UK, at your premises, or an end user venue. This is our opportunity to collectively develop a brief, based upon the specific project challenges and our identified solutions. Once we have fully scoped the project, we create a timeline that factors in each key development stage, including regular check-ins, itemized costings, and key stakeholder involvement. After each element of the plan is approved, by both integrator and end user, we move onto the development itself. Then we go through an in-depth testing process, something Concept Pro takes incredibly seriously and does diligently to ensure the very highest standards are met. Testing takes time, but our customers are updated regularly through project update meetings, and is determined by the complexities of the request. Concept Pro’s testing procedure is a carefully selected blend of internal testing at CP headquarters, and once approved by a CP technical expert, moves onto onsite testing, which will always involve a real end-user environment. Or if this isn’t possible, a proof-of-concept environment. Here is where we invite the integrator and end user to witness and sometimes participate in the real environment test. Once all stakeholders are happy we then release to the customer.”