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SUSPECTED UNREGULATED DUMPING SITE DETECTION AND VERIFICATION

USING HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES AND


DRONE FULL MOTION VIDEO (FMV) DATA

Mohamad Zulkhaibri Mat Azmi, Muhammad Akmal Asraf Mohamad Sharom,


Siti Muazah Md Zin, Welly Numpang and Colonel Abd Razak Sipit

Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI),
No. 13, Jalan Tun Ismail, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: zulkhaibri@mysa.gov.my; asraf@mysa.gov.my; muazah@mysa.gov.my; welly@mysa.gov.my;
razak@mysa.gov.my

KEYWORDS: Illegal Dumpsite, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Remote Sensing, Waste
Landfill

ABSTRACT: By the year 2020, more than 30,000 tons/day of solid waste are estimated to be
generated by Malaysians. Under the Malaysia Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management
Act 2007 (Act 672), solid waste are categories into public waste, import waste, household waste,
institution waste, special waste, commercial waste, industrial waste and construction waste. Like
other countries, unregulated dumping site has become serious matter to be taken up by the
government because it able to causes risk to human health and the environment. The location of
suspected unregulated dumping site are usually in hidden area and difficult to detect by the local
authorities. However with the recent advances in remote sensing satellite technology, the location
of suspected unregulated dumping site landfills can be identified. In order to provide an accurate
information and location to local authorities for the enforcement purposes, drone system with
FMV capability was used to verify the waste category, area estimation of dumping sites and
nearest sensitive area effected such as: residential, school and waterbody. Through FMV data,
others required information such as identity of the suspects, vehicle registration number and
potential threat to the local authority to enter the area can be immediately identified in real-time.
Even dynamic information like ongoing activities at suspected unregulated disposal area can be
seen clearly and recorded. Through capabilities of remote sensing satellite and drone FMV
technologies, detection and enforcement works can be done more effectively in future by the local
authorities.

1. INTRODUCTION

It is estimated that by 2020, Malaysia will produce more than 30,000 tons/day of solid waste
(Jereme et. al, 2015) (Rahim et. al, 2016) (Sreenivasan et. al, 2012) (KPKT, 2015) that generated
from household, commercial, institutional and industrial. Like other countries, unregulated/ illegal
dumping has become serious matter to be taken up by the government where there are many cases
of unregulated/ illegal dumps are reported and some of the unregulated/ illegal dumped wastes
that linked to industries wastes are found at remote areas. In the state of Selangor alone there are
500 illegal plastic waste facilities conducted without approved permit (AP) from the National
Solid Waste Management Department where most of the plastic waste are not processed correctly
but dumped or burned in open air (Greenpeace Malaysia, 2018). Such activities can cause adverse
effects on health and the environment such as air, water and soil pollution. The illegal waste
burning has contributed significantly to the increase in environmental pollution, particularly of
dioxins. Environmental pollution of waste dumping affects health through both short and long-
term effects (Mattiello, A. et al, 2013) (Porta, D. et. al, 2009). General symptoms such as stress,
anxiety, headache, dizziness, nausea, eye and respiratory irritation have been also described
(Kah, M. et. al, 2012).

In addition, construction and demolition (C&D) solid waste also one of the materials that
unregulated/ illegally dispose. The projection of C&D solid waste generated in 2020 is about
36,473 tons/days. According to statistic as show in Figure 1, 60% of C&D waste are possibly
dumped illegally at private land (KPKT, 2015). The illegal dump of C&D waste can causing threat
to human life where it contribute to mosquito breeding ground in which leads to dengue.

Figure 1: Disposal of C&D Waste (KPKT, 2015)

Remote sensing technologies are seen as one of the alternatives in detecting suspected unregulated
waste disposal activities. Several research has been done over the past 15 years in developing
methods on monitoring and mapping hotspot waste disposal area using remote sensing
technologies which includes satellite images, airborne data and most recently the use of unmanned
aircraft system (UAS) or also known as drone. For detection of suspected unregulated waste
disposal area, high-resolution satellite imagery are required especially to detect small area of
disposal area such as illegal domestic waste disposal sites. Visual identification is used in several
existing methods to be appears relatively effective it require significant time and human expertise
(Glanville, 2015). The stress of vegetation shows in spectral signature of satellite imagery indicate
presence of illegal waste.

The used of drone also being applied in waste management. Drone are used to monitoring
landfilled in real-time where it safer and cheaper compared to monitoring using manned aircraft.
In Australia, drone are used to tackle and deter unregulated dumping site especially in remote
area. The recorded video will be used as evidence to prosecute offenders. Furthermore, the
effectiveness in use drone to collect and record the video evidence had been successfully showed
by Environment Protection Authority Victoria EPA VIC which issued 98 remedial notices to stop
or clean up illegally dumped waste across the state (Waste Management Review, 2016).

Sometimes dangerous situation, potential threat or restriction by irresponsible individual when


monitoring and inspection the hotspots want to be implemented (Greenpeace Malaysia, 2018).
Thus, through combination of remote sensing satellite and drone data especially those areas
beyond/ difficult-to-reach/ dangerous, these information can be quickly identify.

In this paper, FMV technologies are add up for identification and verification in real-time. By
using the FMV data, waste category verification and estimated area of waste disposal site able to
be done in real-time. In Section 2, explanation on the usage of high resolution satellite imagery
for detecting potential suspected unregulated dumping site. After the hotspots are detected using
high resolution satellite images, drone technology are used to gather real-time information through
FMV data where are explain in Section 3. The pilot test and results are explain in Section 4 and
in Section 5 is about the conclusion of this paper.

The term of suspected unregulated used in this paper, where at the site illegal operations seem to
be conducted, but it couldn’t be established without doubt, whether the establishment had any
permit or not. The term of unregulated also used, where despite having permits, the establishments
appear to be poorly regulated and/or in violation of permit requirements, e.g., where the
verification identified signs of open burning or seemingly harmful dumping.

2. POTENTIAL SUSPECTED UNREGULATED DUMPING SITE DETECTION


USING HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY

In this paper, the pilot test area are in the west of Peninsular Malaysia. The Pleiades and
SPOT-7 satellite imagery data with resolution range 0.5 to 1.5 meter used in this study. The
observation dates were 14 February 2019 for SPOT-7, whereas 22 February 2019 and 26 March
2019 for Pleiades data. Pan-sharpened images of the target area generated from the data, and then
targets in the obtained images identified accordingly. There are many methods had been
developed for identification of dumping site using satellite images based on resolution and type
of sensor as Table 1 below:

Table 1: The identification methods of suspected unregulated dumping site areas using
several categories of satellite images
Sensor Used Resolution Methods of Analysis
(meter pixel size)
Moderate Resolution 12–50 Combination of principal component
Satellite Data transformation and unsupervised
classification
Medium Resolution 4–12 Spectral signatures and pure spectral pixels
Satellite Data
High to Very-High high (1–4) and Visual identification techniques
Resolution Satellite Data very-high (0.5–1)

For this study, since high-resolution data is available in this study area, the visual identification
techniques was used for analysis. Pan-sharpened high-resolution imagery is very helpful to
extracting surface changes by visual interpretation depends on how radiance differs which is
affected by transmittance and solar zenith angle. From these images, any scrap or junk easily
identified since plastic, concrete and bare soils generally appeared as high reflectance and
inhomogeneous structure. The use of Pleiades and SPOT-7 which provide high resolution images
possible to detect dumping site which is surrounded by build-up and vegetation area by assuming
the presence of garbage and the parameter such as area and distance from residential area. For
visual interpretation technique, the target detected and evaluated for risk level using criteria as
follow:
i. Un-Occupied Area;
ii. Sick/ Dead Vegetation;
iii. Route In/ Out;
iv. Soil/ Water Texture/ Colour;
v. Away from Residential Area;
vi. Near to Drainage System; and
vii. Waste Deposit.
Un-occupied area and waste deposit means an open area with brownish white colour as well as
had uneven texture, this texture usually looks smooth. Typically, a healthy normal vegetation will
appear green in satellite image, nevertheless a sick or dead vegetation will be brownish in colour.
Route in and out can be seen clearly in a high-resolution image with some features like road
network constructed of stone and tar or red soil forming a line. Water appear dark blue in colour
with uniform and flat surface texture. Some of the potential dumping site area might be far away
from residential area where the routes are distant from any main road. Other than that, by using
vector data that we have criteria such as nearby to drainage system is one of the favourite potential
dumping sites that has been detected. From this technique, 10 suspected unregulated dumping
sites randomly selected for further verification process using FMV drone system in order to gather
accurate information at the hotspot areas.

3. SUSPECTED UNREGULATED DUMPING SITE DETAIL AND REAL-TIME


INFORMATION USING DRONE FMV DATA

Based on the potential dumping site hotspot identified through high resolution satellite imagery,
MYSA together with related agencies have operated drone to acquire dynamic information for
verification and examination of the disposal areas. This information is an essential input for
enforcement works effectively and to increase the authority’s ability to detect suspected
unregulated dumping site in remote and difficult locations, as well as providing evidence to
prosecute offenders.

Quadrotor drone system equipped with the FMV optical sensor system was tasked to collect and
gather the information in designated hotspot areas by streamed directly from drone for real-time/
on site FMV data analysis activities. The real-times FMV data analysis activities was carried out
by the analysis drone data operator using TacitView FMV analysis software. The connection
between aircraft and base station was used radio frequency and between base station and mobile
workstation including TacitView software was through RJ45 wired cable to maintain reliability
of data streamed and avoid any transmission delay or connectivity interruption. The real-time
FMV drone data also was streamed directly from drone operation site (On Site) to MYSA Air
Command Center in Kuala Lumpur using Dejero devices. Dejero devices transmit high-quality
live video with low latency by using integrated smart blending technology intelligently combines
multiple network connections in real-time for enhanced reliability, expanded coverage, and
greater bandwidth capacity.

High resolution optical satellite images and extracted hotspot were uploaded and displayed into
TacitView software to enable the verification tasking can be done at the right location. Figure 2
below showed the interface of TacitView Software which use by the analysis drone data operator
to analyse the hotspot areas.
Waterbody
Position
Vector
of Drone
(Blue)

FMV Metadata
Suspected
Unregulated
Dumping site
Vector (Red)

Figure 2: TacitView Software Interface

The use of high performance drone is important input to enforcement agencies in compliance and
enforcement toolkit. The land with minimum visibility/ private land/ difficult-to-reach and
dangerous area tends to be an attractive place for unregulated/ illegal dumping site. FMV drone
data have the potential to get the information during drone verification task are as follows:

i. The waste category;


ii. The estimation area of dumping sites;
iii. The sensitive area (e.g.: Residential, School and Waterbody); and
iv. To record evidence picture/ video of irresponsible individual/ activities such as
identity the suspects, vehicle registration number and potential threat to the local
authority to enter the area.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 showed examples of the output from Call Out method analysis made during
in-flight in potential hotspot area. This method easily measure the area of suspected unregulated
dumping sites in real-time and this information able to disseminate through live streaming to
MYSA air command center, Kuala Lumpur.

Hotspot
Polygon

Center FOV
of FMV data

FMV Data Field of View (FOV) Optical Satellite Image

Figure 3: In-flight Call Out method to estimate the area of hotspot


Hotspot 9

Figure 4: The seepage of polluted water from suspected unregulated dumpsite


into nearby waterbody

The drone FMV data exploitation by using Super-Resolve method has a capability to increase the
resolution Area of Interest (AOI) for the identification waste category, irresponsible individual/
suspects and vehicle/ machine registration number in the suspected unregulated dumping site area.
The Super-resolve method extract single frame image from AOI FMV by using high quality
spatial (in-frame) upscaling and motion compensation for finding corresponding areas in
neighbour frames algorithms. The video motion detection and tracking are then employed using
sub-pixel accurate motion compensation, the similar areas in neighbour frames and intelligently
merge frames to combine information for enhance the identification capability. The Figure 5 and
Figure 6 shown examples of super-resolve image extract from drone FMV data to enhance the
identification capability.

Figure 5: The identification process of vehicle registration number operated in the hotspot area
Industrial Solid Waste
Household Solid
(Dumped Tyre)
Waste (Plastics)

Public Solid
Waste (branches)

Figure 6: Several waste categories in the unregulated dumping site area

4. PILOT TEST AND RESULT

Above method as mentioned in section 2 are implemented and from the hotspot of suspected
unregulated dumping site areas, 10 hotspots randomly selected as a sample for the pilot test. All
the identified potential hotspots show criteria such as Unoccupied Area, Sick/ Dead Vegetation,
Route In/ Out and Soil/ Water Texture/ Colour clearly be seen using the high-resolution satellite
imagery. Therefore the verification through drone system deployment as in section 3 was executed
after the extraction of hotspots location were identified. The FMV drone footage and information
of the potential hotspots are as follows:

i. Hotspot 1-4

© FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019 © FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019
© Pleiades Satellite Imagery Copyright 2020

Public solid waste Not Dumping Site


(Plastics, burning scars) (Cleared land)
(61.9m2)
© FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019
© FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019

Industrial solid waste Industrial solid waste


(Tyres, plastics, bulky wastes) (Chemical waste tanks, metals)
(4,772.0 m2) (12,544 m2)
ii. Hotspot 5-6
© FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019
© Pleiades satellite imagery copyright 2020

Public solid waste


(Plastics, papers)
(12,544 m2)
© FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019

Construction solid waste


(Metals, pipes, woods, electrical wastes)
(12,544 m2)
iii. Hotspot 7
© Pleiades satellite imagery copyright 2020 © FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019

Household solid waste


(Plastics, organic wastes)
(12,544 m2)
© SPOT-7 Satellite Imagery
iii.Copyright
Hotspot 8
2020
© SPOT -7 satellite imagery copyright 2020 © FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019

iv. Hotspot 9-10

Industrial solid waste


(Metals)
(14,180 m2)
iv. Hotspot 9-10
© Pleiades satellite imagery copyright 2020 © FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019

Household solid waste


(Plastics)
(3,895m2)

© FMV Drone Data Copyright 2019

Public & Industrial solid waste


(Tyres, plastics, woods, bulky wastes)
(8,535 m2)

The result of drone verification process, 9 out of 10 hotspot areas are suspected as the unregulated
dumping site. Electricity pylon and waterbody reserve have a higher potential to be an urban
dumping site hotspot. The suspected unregulated dumping site in this study easy to distinguish
between legal/ register and illegal/register dumping site when several facilities such as site office,
leachate treatment plant and security control are not provided while the characteristic of non-
register dumping site are scattered waste, no has daily soil cover and away from main road. The
close distance between landfill and sensitive areas such as school, residential and waterbody pose
the environmental threats that directly contributed to health effects on students and nearby
communities.

5. CONCLUSION

The usage of high resolution satellite imagery provide the opportunity to detect the suspected
unregulated dumping site and the combination FMV drone data technology as a complementary
input able to provide accurate information to related agencies as a new mechanism to enhance the
capabilities of enforcement works.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors acknowledge the support provides by Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology
and Innovation (MOSTI), Department of Environment, Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) and
members of MYSA waste project team.
REFERENCES

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Problems and Prospects of Solid Waste Management in Malaysia, Journal of Social Sciences and
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References from websites:

Greenpeace Malaysia, 2019. The Recycling Myth-Malaysia and the Broken Global Recycling
System. Retrieved from https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-southeastasia-
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akmal.pdf
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Sreenivasan, J., Govindan, M., Chinnasami, M., and Kadiresu, I. 2012. Solid Waste Management
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