Episode 10 Inside Out

There is our latest headlines. Now on BBC News it's time for Inside

Out. Tracking down the fly-tippers

who are plaguing our countryside. It actually makes me feel even more

determined to look harder and wider for just that one piece of post

with the names that we can take Our correspondent looks at extreme

solutions to littering. How do you feel seeing your name on the

Internet? I was embarrassed, I was mortified. If my kids grow up later

on in life and look at my name on the Internet, that is what will come

up. And rats on the rampage. How are dirty habits are attracting

unwelcome visitors. They aren't shy, they don't mind rain or daylight.

They don't mind people walking around. The feeling of disgust is

horrible. You shouldn't be living with that. I Seb Choudhury, and this

is Inside Out. Parts of the British countryside are

becoming a dumping ground for fly-tippers. It is illegal and costs

millions of pounds every to clean up. It doesn't take a genius to work

out that doesn't belong there. So we set about trying catch a fly-tipper

in the act. We set up our secret cameras in one of the West's worst

fly-tipping spots. To catch offenders breaking the law. Prepare

to be disgusted at what some people dump. Just lots more to. Be warned,

fly-tippers, inside out is on the case. -- Inside Out is on the case.

Fly-tipping is not a new problem, but it is getting worse and worse in

the West, causing a scar on the landscape. It costs councils in

England an estimated ?50 million a year to clean up. And private land

owners are staggered blink ?150 million, money that comes out of

that pockets. It can be electrical goods, old cities, birds. It's a

hell of a problem this man is at his wits end, with waste dumped on his

land almost every week. We have to speak to the local council about

that, wait for them to come in to clear it. Time that we lose and with

farming, it's just a matter of we have to do the job on that day. It

stops us doing that work. We might have something that can help him.

CCTV is proving successful in catching those responsible for

fly-tipping, and as this is a prime spot, what better place to install

Inside Out's very own secret cameras? Hopefully, we can catch

someone in the act. Waste dumped here comes in all shapes and sizes.

You've found some pretty strange things left as well, haven't you?

The strangest thing that we found left in the countryside was right on

the spot here. It was an actual JCB, Park here one night. The police came

to me and said the public were being distracted by it. In the West,

fly-tipping has increased by a third in the past three years. From just

over 20,000 incidents a year to almost 30,000. Hard evidence is

needed for a prosecution, and cameras get convictions. Take this

example from the Environment Agency. A builder decided to dump and burn

waste from his site in a field in Somerset. Unbelievable, but he

didn't get away with it. He was successfully prosecuted in May, and

is now banned from handling waste. Pretty tricky considering he's a

builder. Back at the farm in Gloucestershire, I wonder how I

hidden cameras are getting on. Well, not a great deal goes on at first.

Then this happens. The council putting up a sign to try to prevent

fly-tippers. A couple of days later, we catch something that looks more

interesting. A truck arrives, loaded. Two men then appear to

unlock the tailgate. I wonder why. And then carry on their merry way.

The next morning, we get a call from Ian, the farmer. The worst case of

fly-tipping he has ever seen, just a few metres along from our cameras.

Coincidence? The council enforcement team are already here, searching for

evidence. And believe me, you need a strong stomach for this. Dog to.

Dirty nappy. --. Waste. Oh my God! More dog waste. Just lots

more waste. Somebody has put this in the middle-of-the-road, and they

just think that's it. It's gone, it's out of their life, it's not

their problem any more. It actually makes me feel even more determined

to look harder and wider, for just that one piece of post or one

delivery item that has the address on it, with the name so we can take

these people to court. Because this is just disgusting. We have a bag of

shoes, I think it is just a bag of shoes. We never know what we have

found at the bottom. They are looking for clues to find whoever

dumped this waste, and getting their hands dirty is all part of the job.

Here is something. Wiltshire Constabulary. Something else. Theft

of a wild creature. First bit of evidence, a summons for poaching.

Could this be linked to the fly-tippers? The team still need to

find more. You sometimes find hidden gems.

Car parts. A broken broom. Shoes. Hang on, hang on, hang on. This

looks like we might have hit the jackpot. We've got personal account

numbers. With names and addresses. National insurance numbers. We've

pretty much got everything we need in one bag. Finding a crucial bit of

evidence like this can make a case. But perhaps that footage our secret

cameras recorded could prove significant. What's that on top? It

looks familiar. You can clearly see the truck with the car door panel

and so far. We've caught the fly-tippers. And they were not

deterred by the signs. Beginning of last week, the council came out and

put these signs up to try and stop people from fly-tipping. A few days

later, ironically, one of the worst cases of fly-tipping we've ever had

happens right next to is there to stop people from fly-tipping. I

think people that do this sort of thing don't really take much notice

of science. I think they take much more notice of actual, you know,

getting prosecuted. -- notice of signs. A few weeks later, the road

is cleared. But Lucy is still on the case. We sent an invite to the

individual asking them to come for an interview and a caution, which

they did not attend. We would like to persevere with finding the

individual and just working out what their take on that is. We will do

what we can to try and find the individual. If they make it to

court, they could be looking at two up to ?50,000 in fines and six

months in prison. The council may now hire a special investigator to

track down the fly-tippers. All of it at a cost to the taxpayer. But as

I've found, bringing offenders to justice is a difficult and dirty

business. Even when there is plenty of evidence.

Coming up, rats on the rampage. I used to come down here on my

motorbike pretty much every night, around 8pm or 9pm. There'd be

scattering. I run over countless amounts. We are the ones attracting

them by making this sort of waste. I would say it's more of a human

problem than a rat problem. Tracking down the people who file up our

countryside isn't easy. So how about trying to prevent them from doing it

in the first place? We asked our correspondent to look at some of the

more radical approaches to addressing this problem.

As somebody who is a lover of the great British outdoors, there's

nothing I find more depressing than this, litter. It's disgusting, it's

dangerous, it's depressing. But most of all, it's just lazy. I really

want to find out what. People doing it. Could gentle persuasion work? Or

do we have to get tough? Dropping one cigarette, I face a fine of over

?600. Or is the answer is Big Brother approach? First up, I'm in

Gloucestershire at a wildlife beauty spot I know well. Here in the Forest

of Dean, litter is a massive problem. With over 60 fly-tips

reported each and every month. And the crazy thing is, the vast

majority of it can be disposed of quite legally. I know and love the

beautiful Forest of Dean, and it does tend to get spoiled by the

litter. How big is the problem? We have spots where it's particularly

bad, and then other areas where sometimes as really bad, if someone

has had a party or something like that. Other times, especially with

the recreation sites, it's a problem overnight when people have been on

the recreation sites during the day, then they have left their litter

behind. Is there one piece of it easy more than any other? I think it

is nappies. It sounds nasty, but animals eat the gel from inside. It

fills their stomachs, then they started. So it is a really nasty one

to find in the forest. -- then they starve to death. Make a funny nose,

but the eyes are the thing. To tackle the problem, these children

are designing scary faces. To be made out of rubbish collected from

their local streets. What else have you drawn on there? I've done a

moustache and a red nose. If this is up on a tree looking down at you, do

you think that. People dropping litter? Yeah. It would strop me

dropping litter, I will tell you that. That is one of the best faces,

that is absolutely brilliant. The finished faces are hung from trees

in litter hotspots around the forest. It is an unmistakably gentle

approach, devised by an environmental charity using

something called nudging. Nudges a behavioural concept which suggests

that using positive reinforcement and indirect prompting, you can

encourage people to change their behaviour. For the communities, the

nudge is the eyes on the trees, which basically makes people feel

like they are being watched. This is being reinforced by the plaques

which they take your litter home. A lot of people know that litter is an

anti-social thing to do. The eyes there create that sense of being

watched. And hopefully encourage people to not drop litter, and take

it home when they are in a beautiful place like the Forest of Dean. Where

did you get the inspiration? We initially came across a campaign in

Rotterdam, in an area with a high crime rate. They put 10,000 cartoon

eyes on bus stops, sides of buildings. They saw the crime rates

drop quite dramatically. I love what they are doing here. It is fun,

creative and positive way to tackle what is an insidious issue. I just

hope it works. Appealing to our better nature seems a nice idea. But

perhaps the answer is something with a bit more clout. We will find out

whodunnit. In south Wales, they have declared war on litter. They have

put officers on the street armed with cameras. They have a website

where they post photos of people they want to talk to. In London,

Natalie was named and shamed. She now faces a fine of more than ?600

for dropping a cigarette. There were no litter bins around at the time,

or anything. There was a little green box next to me. I just added

it on there and put down the side. As I got into the shop doors, this

guy approached me and he was just like, I'm giving you fine. And I

started laughing at him and I said, for what? And he said for dropping a

cigarette. He handed me an ?80 fine. I refused to pay it. And then a few

months ago, I was looking through my phone, putting my name in Google and

my name came up in the London papers. I was actually taken to

court, that I wasn't aware of. I also was on the Hall of shame. How

did you feel seeing your name on the Internet? I was embarrassed,

mortified to be honest. I thought, oh my God, can't believe my name's

there. If my kids look my name up later in life, that is what will

come up. Naming and shaming undoubtedly sends a strong message,

but it relies on catching people red-handed. So what if there were an

approach which could catch the culprit, even though the actual act

of littering hadn't been observed in the first place? In Hong Kong,

they've imagined a world where litter is DNA tested and a Photofit

of the suspect created. But could this really work? At Kings College

London, they're using Inu technique. It can identify particular parts of

the person was like. Can they tell me who drops the bottle? We do have

a full profile. It is from a male. But we have also looked at some

visible characteristics. That is what you can see here on the screen.

Across the top, we have some information about the person's hair

colour. We can say they're definitely not blonde or redhead.

Probably more like Brown, dark brown. And down here we have the eye

colour results, which is definitely brown. Fascinating. What about

ethnicity? This graph down here shows different populations around

the world. This purple group, are Europeans. And this red dot is where

the person sits, who I think are very likely to be pale skinned. The

closest match are from Britain, so it may be somebody from the UK.

That's astonishing. It's time to confess. It was me what dropped the

bottle. I did have brown hair, dark brown hair, before I lost at! I

missed definitely have brown eyes. And I am British. I'm impressed by

how much information they can extract from one discarded bottle.

Could this be the way to go after litter louts in the future? I think

it's crazy, if you're talking about catching somebody who's dropped

litter. It's too expensive. The result that you get can't be used in

a court of law, it won't be precise enough. It will mean that the

enforcement agencies are targeting people, the majority of them will be

innocent. So after all that, what is the best way to tackle littering?

Councils are dishing out more fines, and it's clearly putting people off.

It taught me not to drop a cigarette ever again. I don't smoke if I'm

out, if I go to town, I don't smoke. Because don't want to constantly

look over my shoulder if there's not been around, if anyone will be

behind me with a ticket book ready to give me a ticket. Meanwhile in

the Forest of Dean, volunteers litter around the community has gone

around. -- around the trees. I'm interested to see the effort that

has gone in. Irrespective of whether it is the carrot or the stick

approach, if it works I'm up for it. If you don't want Mike on your case,

put your rubbish in the bin. Now, one of the more unpleasant result of

not bringing our waste is that pest control call ups are on the rise.

Kersten has been on the raft Trail in Newcastle. -- on the rat Trail.

So, you're rat, you fancy a late-night feed. You come here.

Welcome to Chinatown, ratty city. It's is well-known for its Chinese

population, now it's becoming famous for its rodent population, too. This

was filmed behind the street by someone on a night out. Because of

all the Chinese restaurant here, there is all-you-can-eat banquet for

them, too. It's an issue that's been in the headlines over a year. So

I've come to find out if Newcastle really does have a rat problem. This

man is a wildlife cameraman. He's come to help us get to the bottom of

it. Found something down there already? A lovely big rathole down

there. I'm just going to plug myself behind one of the bins and hopefully

catch one of them coming out. Darkness falls, and there is a

stirring. There's been knocked over on the

ground, and there is a pile of rubbish. They are feeding in two

paces. There must be about ten rats coming out. He has been filming for

three hours. The rats are coming from the town wall, or holes in the

ground. There is a lot of food for them, so you expect them to come in

straight to the food. They are aware of our presence, but they are still

sniffing the air, testing to see if there are people about. It is clear

that rubbish is the problem, and businesses say it has been for

years. Michael works at the snooker club. I've probably seen upwards 30

- 50. I used to come here my motorbike pretty much every night,

around 8pm or 9pm. I've run over countless, they would be scuttling.

There's a bit of a bump. I don't see it as that much of a problem. They

have as much right to be here as we do. We are the ones attracting them

by making this sort of waste. It is more a human problem than it is a

rat problem, I would say. Is the rat problem getting worse? In the year

to March 2014, Newcastle City Council had more than 2100 calls

about rats. That number went up for the same period the following year.

And in the 12 months to March this year? Well, there were 3767 calls. A

rise of more than 40%. Is just going to increase and increase, or will

you get a point we have to tackle it? We do tackle the caused by rats.

The main problem is that businesses don't store their refuge properly.

Sometimes, you go round the city and use the wheelie bins piled high.

Businesses just should not store their waist like that, we should not

tolerate that. The restaurant owner in the street has done everything

they can. To ensure that there are no rat inside the restaurant.

Outside the restaurant, it is the council's responsibility. The main

problem is the homeless people around this area. They go through

the bins, stir up the rubbish, leave it outside the bin. We will write to

the leader of the council to have a meeting with them, to resolve this

problem. Michael's bar pays ?250 a month from locked bins, but does

everyone else? Our business is doing enough? Very possibly not, if it is

being filmed by the BBC and is an issue. If waste management companies

will put their prices so high, what will happen? This will happen.

Cost-cutting is bringing rats to Newcastle's business premises, but

what about Holmes? The rubbish around you is getting worse and

worse over the last few years. Basically since the council cuts.

There is one where rare thought this really needs to be documented, so I

started taking a video. -- where I really thought. Almost as soon as I

had started filming, that is when the rats appeared. She had stumbled

upon rat Ali. -- rat alley. In Chinatown, they

don't care, but here they don't care. They don't care. They don't

mind rain, daylight. They don't mind people walking around. The feeling

is horrible, of disgust. You shouldn't be living with that. Some

of the back lanes in residential areas, it's horrendous the way that

people think that they can live. Is not the case if you're getting cuts

financially, you're going to be able to do less? At the moment we offer a

service to businesses and residents. We have a duty to carry on treating

rats. In terms of enforcement, where we see issues, we will serve notice

on landlords and tenants to deal with those rubbish issues. Newcastle

offers match for a rat. Good accommodation, food. The council

budget's squeeze, while businesses are cutting costs, too. But the

solution seems very simple. The primary sources the food. Get rid of

that waste food on the floor, the knocked over bins. Then you'll see

the rat population reduced. Until next time, good night.

Some wet weather working into the north-west of UK tonight. Elsewhere,

most places have a dry