This action takes a comprehensive approach to the prevention of illegal waste dumping, using the City of Maribor – a large municipality – as a case study. The action addresses the challenges of managing illegal dumps in cities, using a smart and circular approach to improve control and enforcement. It consists of the following phases: identifying illegal waste dumps and their contents; establishing a monitoring system (drones and citizen monitoring) to detect illegal dumping activities; testing and verifying the system; recycling various types of waste, and monitoring changes in the local environment. It provides an example of good practice in promoting responsible waste treatment, which helps to conserve untreated materials and reduce the need to landfill waste.
Objectives: To develop a methodology for preliminary identification of sites vulnerable to illegal waste dumping; to put in place a smart control and enforcement system; to influence and change the illegal dumping behavioural patterns of stakeholders and pre-defined target groups.
Figure 1: Map of the considered open dumps (defined as locations with illegally dumped and abandoned waste piles in the environment) within the City of Maribor Map of all currently considered open dumps as an input source for the locations, previously identified locations (provided by various stakeholders – Ecologists Without Borders, the inter-municipal inspectorate, public service providers, etc.) were taken into account, as well as of locations additionally identified by field enumerators during site surveys.
Kartografski prikaz vseh trenutno obravnavanih lokacij LNOP. Kot vhodni lokacijski vir smo upoštevali lokacije, ki so bile predhodno zaznane (podane iz strani različnih deležnikov – Ekologi brez meja, medobčinski inšpektorat, izvajalci javne službe, …) ali pa so bile na terenu dodatno prepozne iz strani terenskih popisovalcev.
Figure 2: Results of remote sensing
Additional open dumps were identified using high-resolution orthophoto imagery generated through drone overflights. The analysis revealed two notable examples of such sites.
Figure 3: Illegal landfills identified and mapped
The map highlights several illegal dumping sites that have been identified in the area of the City of Maribor. The identified and mapped sites in the test area within the City of Maribor serve as a primary data source for the development and implementation of a mobile and backend application designed to effectively manage illegal landfills. In addition, they provide the basis for creating cartographic representations of areas potentially impacted by illegal dumping.
Figure 4: Screenshots from the Open Dumps mobile application
The Illegal Landfills application environment consists of both a mobile and a backend component. The mobile component is designed for guiding, informing, monitoring and recording identified illegal landfills in the field. The backend system is intended for the management of illegal landfills by the system administrator. This application environment is intended for a wide range of stakeholders, including citizens, local community representatives, inspection authorities and the system administrator. Their ultimate goal is to prevent the emergence of new illegal landfills and to ensure the proper remediation of existing ones.
English 
Slovenian