Multnomah County · Public works
Illegal dumping in Portland, CA.
Illegal dumping is one of the most persistent problems Portland crews face. The bottleneck is usually not effort — it is knowing which reports are real, which are duplicates, and which piles nobody has reported yet.
Why the Portland backlog keeps growing
Most illegal-dumping backlogs grow for reasons that never show up in the ticket count:
- Bad work orders. Wrong location, wrong contents, or wrong size sends a crew to the wrong place with the wrong equipment.
- Ghost orders. Sites already cleaned stay open, so the same address keeps collecting trips.
- Duplicate reports. One pile reported five times becomes five work orders — five chances to waste a truck roll.
- Missed piles. Dumping nobody reported sits until a resident complains again. It is the cheapest-looking cost and often the most expensive outcome.
A queue built from unverified reports measures noise, not need. That is the problem Aerbits was built to solve.
What verified aerial detection changes for Portland
- Verify before dispatch. Reports are checked against fresh aerial imagery — location, size, and contents confirmed before a truck rolls.
- Clear the right things first. Piles ranked by verified size and repeat-offender status, not by the order tickets arrived.
- Close the loop. The next flight confirms the cleanup and closes the order; duplicates get consolidated.
- Find the misses. Coverage surfaces piles that were never reported.
Privacy by design: Aerbits detects trash, not people. No license-plate readers, no facial recognition, no law enforcement.
Evidence from the Bay Area
Our 13-month aerial detection pilot in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point reduced active dumpsites by 96% (a controlled A-B-A withdrawal study), filing more than 1,500 verified reports to SF 311. Across two years of operations: 298,800 aerial photos, 9,590 AI detections, and 3,846 complete detection-to-cleanup chains, with a median detection-to-cleanup time of 37.6 hours.
How a pilot would work in Portland
- 01 / Scope. Pick one Portland service area and agree on the survey boundary, schedule, and responsibilities.
- 02 / Measure. Compare active dumpsites, verified cleanup times, and avoidable trips against a baseline.
- 03 / Decide. Review the evidence with your team before adjusting, expanding, or stopping.
Report dumping in Portland through the city's 311 service in the meantime — official Portland site. Aerial verification is what turns those reports into an accurate queue.
Get the pilot discussion brief →Portland FAQ
- How does Aerbits help Portland reduce illegal dumping?
- We fly fixed-route aerial surveys, detect dumpsites with AI, and hand Portland public works crews verified work orders — corrected locations, consolidated duplicates, and documented cleanups.
- Can we start with one area of Portland?
- Yes. A pilot scopes one service area, agrees on success measures up front, and reviews results before any expansion.
- Is this surveillance?
- No. No license-plate readers, no facial recognition, no law enforcement. Aerbits detects trash, not people.
Discuss a pilot
Start with one Portland service area.
Tell us the area you have in mind and how your crews work today.