A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump bags of rubbish by the roadside in an attempt to evade cameras installed by local authorities to combat fly-tipping, municipal police have said.

The episode was detailed in a Facebook post on the city of Catania’s official page. Accompanying a video of the dog was a remark from the police that “inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility”.

The surveillance footage shows a small dog trotting along Via Pulacara in Catania’s San Giorgio district with a bag of rubbish in its mouth, before dropping it neatly at the roadside.

“The environmental unit of Catania’s municipal police,” a statement posted on the Facebook page reads, “has released two videos recorded by surveillance cameras in which a dog is seen depositing a bag of waste in the street.” The scene, authorities said, left little room for doubt: the animal had been trained to spare its owner from being filmed dumping rubbish illegally.

The behaviour, it added, was “as cunning as it is doubly wrong” – polluting the city while attempting to sidestep the rules by exploiting an unwitting pet. “Respect for urban decorum and the environment is a duty for all.”

The man has reportedly been identified and fined.

Illegal dumping is a major problem in Italy, particularly in the south, with significant environmental and economic costs. In 2023, more than 9,300 waste-related offences were recorded – a 66% increase on the previous year.

In response, growing numbers of Italian municipalities are installing surveillance cameras, wildlife-style “camera traps” and smart monitoring systems to curb fly-tipping and misuse of recycling points. The strategy, often tied to efforts to boost waste collection and urban cleanliness, relies on video evidence to impose steep penalties.

In Palermo, hundreds of new cameras and camera traps have been rolled out across all city districts. Officials say 93% of fines for illegal dumping result from camera footage evidence.

Under Italian law, the unauthorised abandonment of waste – including household rubbish bags – can carry fines ranging from €1,500 to €18,000, with the possibility of criminal charges.