Across the country, more and more garbage is being dumped illegally. Cities have to dispose of old tires, construction waste, refrigerators and toxic substances. Tettnang is reacting.
red/dpa/lsw
22.09.2024 – 12:33
Because of the large amount of illegally dumped garbage, Tettnang in the Bodensee district has recently started using video cameras to monitor a glass and tin can waste disposal site. This is a measure to prevent regular illegal dumping of garbage, says a spokeswoman for the city. After the introduction, many municipalities in the area asked what exactly Tettnang was doing. Municipalities all over the country complain about illegal garbage and are usually stuck with the costs of removing it. The perpetrators are rarely identified.
On August 15, 2024, the city of Ludwigshafen launched a pilot project for mobile video surveillance at selected locations in the city to combat illegal dumping of waste. During the six-month test period, it will be checked whether the video surveillance leads to a reduction in waste pollution and whether the measures taken by the city of Ludwigshafen to protect innocent citizens are effective.
According to the Green-Black state government, the legal situation in Rhineland-Palatinate is not comparable to that in Baden-Württemberg. Video surveillance is already permitted there if, among other things, it is necessary to carry out a task in the public interest or to protect property or possessions and there are no indications that this conflicts with overriding legitimate interests of the persons concerned. This is the result of a parliamentary inquiry by the SPD parliamentary group to the Ministry of the Interior.
Video surveillance system aims to combat littering
“The Baden-Württemberg District Council, in coordination with the Baden-Württemberg City Council and the Baden-Württemberg Municipal Council, announced that no similar projects to combat littering offenders were known in Baden-Württemberg,” wrote the Interior Ministry in its response to the SPD parliamentary group. In the districts, there is certainly a problem of illegal waste disposal at container sites and similar solutions to combat littering offenders have already been discussed with some of the affected municipalities.
In Tettnang, not only the waste collected in the containers on Bahnhofstrasse was disposed of on the waste island at the BayWa car park. “Everything from strollers to refrigerators and furniture, as well as containers with toxic contents, were dumped on the area in front of and next to the containers,” said the city spokeswoman.
The installation of the video surveillance system, which the local council decided on in April, is now intended to remedy the situation. Anyone caught illegally dumping rubbish can expect heavy fines. There is talk of fines of up to 5,000 euros.
Pilot project serves as a deterrent and not a conviction
As the Stuttgart Ministry of the Interior further announced, there are also fundamental data protection concerns in Rhineland-Palatinate regarding the video surveillance of litter offenders. The data protection officer for Rhineland-Palatinate, Dieter Kugelmann, supports the pilot project in Ludwigshafen. “According to Professor Kugelmann, other cities in Rhineland-Palatinate have not received any approval for comparable projects.” Moreover, the pilot project is primarily intended as a deterrent and not to convict the perpetrators. The problem in Ludwigshafen is that not only bulky waste is being dumped illegally, but also household waste, which attracts rats. This puts the health of citizens at risk.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, no comparable case has been reported in Baden-Württemberg. Regardless of the current data protection situation, video surveillance of littering offenders is always the last appropriate measure.
