Time Team technology targets waste dumps
The high-tech approach allows investigators to 'see' underground
The Environment Agency has drawn inspiration from Channel 4's Time Team in its latest fight against the illegal waste dumping trade.
The agency will use technology regularly employed by archaeologists all over the world, enabling its team of investigators to "see" what is buried underground without having to dig up vast swathes of land in the hope of unearthing illegally dumped rubbish.
Using "resistive tomography", environment officials will be able to catch offenders who have run an illegal dump without having to pick up a spade.
Once a dumping site has been uncovered, the cost of digging up the potentially harmful waste will be handed over to the landowner responsible for allowing the burial in the first place.
By planting electrodes in the ground, investigators can "see" what is buried underneath by measuring the resistance placed on the electrical current by different materials.
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Agency investigators have already had success with the technique, unearthing a large buried waste site in the New Forest National Park that will cost the landowner in the region of £500,000 to clear up.
The Environment Agency, which has closed 1,500 illegal waste sites since 2008, estimates there are still approximately 800 illegal dumps in operation and says new technology is vital in efforts to shut them down.
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