Wait, trash can, don’t rustle the wheels – Newspaper Kommersant No. 1 (7446) dated 01/09/2023

From January 11, the Russian Federation will allow the use of automatic cameras to punish violators who throw garbage out of a car, truck or trailer on the side of the road or in the forest. The fine will be up to 200 thousand rubles. However, so far the authorities of none of the Russian regions have declared their readiness to take advantage of this opportunity. Technologies for fixing such violations with automatic systems have yet to be developed, experts interviewed by Kommersant explained.

The amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses that are coming into force are part of a larger package of amendments to legislation that came into force in July 2022. It is about Art. 8.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses “Non-compliance with the requirements in the field of environmental protection when handling production and consumption waste.” For citizens who leave waste outside specially designated places – in the forest belt, on the side of the road, etc. – the maximum fine was increased from 3 thousand to 5 thousand rubles. If violators throw garbage out of the car, the fine for citizens is up to 30 thousand rubles, for officials – 60 thousand rubles, for legal entities – 100 thousand rubles. If the garbage is unloaded from a truck, the sanction reaches 75 thousand rubles. for citizens, 100 thousand rubles for officials and 200 thousand for legal entities. Relevant decisions are made by the police and employees of the State Forest Supervision. Statistics indicating the application of the new edition of Art. 8.2 in the regions, “Kommersant” has not yet been found.

On January 11, a norm comes into force that allows you to fix these violations with the help of automatic systems. In this case, a fine ruling will be sent by mail to the owner of the vehicle – after the camera recognizes the license plate number of the violator’s car. The mechanism is identical to the one used by the traffic police to deal with violators of traffic rules. Amendments, we note, have been made to Art. 1.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses “Presumption of innocence”: a car owner who has received a fine from a camera for manipulating garbage will have to prove his innocence if he did not commit a violation.

The law was developed at the initiative of the deputies of the Moscow City Duma and the Moscow Regional Duma in 2021. The parliamentarians complained about the weak effect of the sanctions: 10,000 rubles can be earned from the illegal removal of a container of garbage into a field or forest. with a fine of only 1-2 thousand rubles. The main part of the violations is committed with the help of garbage trucks and dump trucks, the Moscow City Duma said. In June 2022, a deputy of the capital’s parliament, Alexander Kozlov, explaining to Kommersant the situation with the use of automatic cameras, spoke of the need to develop “separate regulations”, while not excluding the use of traffic police cameras (there are more than 20 thousand of them across the country). The deputy emphasized that the main goal of tougher penalties is to fight garbage dump trucks, and not “people who left the package on the side of the road.”

The authorities of the subjects have not yet publicly announced plans to use automatic cameras to monitor cleanliness. The Moscow region uses photo and video recording to control the movement of trucks with construction waste based on a database of issued permits for this type of transportation.

“From a technical point of view, photo-video fixation systems can be taught to identify even garbage thrown out of a car window on the go, including a cigarette butt, a plastic cup, and much more,” explained “Kommersant” in the OKO association (which unites manufacturers and operators of photo-video fixation systems). cameras allows you to capture the object itself, and the trajectory of its movement, and sometimes even the face of a person, if necessary. Despite the fact that the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses are coming into force, the Association pointed out, clear requirements for the evidence base are still not developed: it is “premature” to talk about launching photo and video recording of such offenses. “At the same time, the places of spontaneous dumps, for example, near horticultural or dacha associations, are usually known,” the OKO notes. ditch. It is technically easier to deal with such a phenomenon, but the density of placement of complexes for photo and video recording of traffic violations in Russia is not entirely sufficient for this. According to representatives of the association, the best option for solving the problem of focal waste dumps could be the installation of “simplified” cameras with the function of covert video surveillance: “They can be connected to a neural network, which will recognize both the license plate of the car and the very fact of garbage being thrown out.”

Citizens-violators and firms involved in illegal garbage disposal will try to bypass the cameras, Grigory Shukhman, an expert on systems for fixing violations, suggests, for example, by closing a license plate or making sure that there is no working complex nearby. It is very difficult to fix the violation in automatic mode, having collected the necessary evidence base, Mr. Shukhman warns. The resulting photo and video materials, in his opinion, should be carefully examined by a person before a fine is issued.

Ivan Buranov