How big data and covert surveillance are helping tackle Hong Kong’s problem of illegal dumping
From a trove of government data, HKU associate professor identified 442 vehicles suspected of illegal dumping
Academics are hesitant to have their work associated with “activism”. But big data scientist Dr Wilson Lu Weisheng has no qualms about his latest work being described as such.
His project will involve gritty field work – covert surveillance and making use of hidden “ambush cams” to record the movements and capture the licence plates of hundreds of dumper trucks, a sizeable contingent of which he suspects are involved in illegal dumping.
“It will be a more thrilling research project than just digging out numbers,” said the associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s department of real estate and construction.
Lu has developed an analytical model to find just what portion of the city’s construction and demolition waste is actually disposed of unscrupulously.
From a trove of government data he secured – 7.8 million dumper truck trips to public landfills over the last six years – 442 out of 10,000 registered vehicles were identified as “highly suspicious” of being involved in illegal dumping activity.
