Oakland has spent years trying to find the right tools to fight illegal dumping. Now, the city appears ready to take to the skies to help clean up “The Town.”
A proposal under consideration would use drones to find dumpsites. The city council on Tuesday is expected to vote on a plan to spend about $150,000 to hire dozens of AI-powered drones from San Francisco-based Aerbits.
“They’re to help us identify where the dumping hotspots are and send the correct equipment and the correct size of trucks to pick up the garbage,” Councilmember Zac Unger said.
Oakland also wants to use license plate readers to better find the trash and those who are dumping it illegally.
“We only have 36 cameras across the city of Oakland,” Councilmember Charlene Wang said. “I can identify probably 36 dumping spots just in District 2. I’m all for the use of technology.”
The city council said that technology would be used for discovery, not to store data.
“They’re not picking up faces, they’re not picking up license plates,” Unger said. “It’s not for enforcement. It’s just to identify where the garbage is.”