AI cameras in Mumbai to dissuade people from dumping garbage in open

In a pilot project launched to deter littering in public spaces, unauthorised garbage dumping will set off alarms in the city through a blaring loudspeaker and attract heavy penalties. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has installed an AI camera equipped with a live warning loudspeaker in Mahim’s Gajanan Vatika, a garbage vulnerable point (GVP) which records chronic waste dumping.

The pilot project entails an AI camera which will detect an individual's movement approaching to dump garbage. As soon as the sensor records motion, the system will set off a message through an in-built loudspeaker appealing to offenders to keep the premises clean and stray away from littering in public.

According to senior civic officials, repeat offenders will be levied with heavy fines for open garbage dumping and littering if the warning is ignored. The pilot project was launched in G/North ward, since the belt is home to some of the largest number of GVPs identified in Mumbai.

Every day, the city generates over 7,000 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste of which a large quantity is collected from GVPs, which are legacy hotspots where heaps of garbage pile up owing to frequent dumping of waste by residents, commuters and pedestrians.