(a) Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
(1) Garbage. All putrescible wastes, except sewage and body wastes, including vegetable and animal offal and carcasses of small animals, kitchen and table refuse, swill and every accumulation of both animal and vegetable matter that attends the preparation, decay or storage of meats, fish, fowl or vegetables, excluding recognizable industrial byproducts, and including all such substances from all public and private establishments and from all residences.
(2) Refuse. Garbage or trash.
(3) Trash. All nonputrescible wastes, including discarded and abandoned articles.
(b) Prohibited Disposal. No person shall deposit or dispose of any garbage, trash or other waste matter, or any carcass or part thereof or any offal upon any street, sidewalk, public place or vacant lot, or upon private premises owned or occupied by another; except, that garbage and trash may be set out in receptacles for collection as provided in this article. No person shall deposit or dispose of any garbage, trash or other waste matter or any carcass or part thereof or any offal in any pond, lake, spring, well or watercourse or in any gutter or drain.
(c) Approved Refuse Disposal Site. No person shall dump, burn, bury, destroy or otherwise dispose of any refuse within the City, except at a refuse disposal site established or approved by Council; provided, that persons licensed by the City to collect refuse, as provided in this article, may dispose of refuse collected by them at such places as may be authorized for such purpose in their respective licenses, and then only pursuant to the laws and ordinances in effect at such disposal places.
(d) Litter.
(1) No person shall dispose of, or suffer to be disposed of, litter of any kind at any place within the City, except in receptacles provided for such purposes.
(2) Litter originating on any premises shall be disposed of by the owner or occupant of the premises.
(3) Litter shall not be deposited or permitted to remain upon any place where it would be subject to scattering by children, animals, the elements of nature or other means.
(4) “Litter” is hereby defined as paper, cartons, bottles, bottle caps, cans, fruit peelings and pits, food, glass, scraps or fragments of any kind, and other things which have come to be regarded by the public as litter.
(e) Duty to Remove Debris; Collection of Refuse from Vacant Lots. Building contractors, excavators and other persons who in the course of their respective businesses cause debris or refuse of any kind to accumulate at any place within the City shall remove and dispose of such debris or refuse periodically before it becomes a hazard to the public health, safety or welfare, and at the completion of each project shall remove all such debris and refuse and dispose thereof in a sanitary and lawful manner; provided, that when debris or refuse accumulates on any vacant lot so as to become a nuisance and is not subject to removal by any contractor or other person as above provided, the City may collect and dispose of such debris and refuse, and the costs of such collection and disposal shall become a charge against the owner of such vacant lot and a lien thereon and shall be collectable in the same manner as taxes.
(1978 Code Sec. 10-1 to 10-5)