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The purpose of the chapters in this Code of Ordinances pertaining to Solid Waste Control is to provide for the sanitary storage, collection and disposal of solid waste and, thereby, to protect the citizens of the City from such hazards to their health, safety and welfare as may result from the uncontrolled disposal of solid waste.
For use in these chapters the following terms are defined:
1. “Director” means the director of the State Department of Natural Resources or any designee.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.101[2b])
2. “Discard” means to place, cause to be placed, throw, deposit or drop.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.361[2])
3. “Garbage” means all solid and semisolid, putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparing, cooking, storing, serving and consuming of food or of material intended for use as food, and all offal, excluding useful industrial by-products, and includes all such substances from all public and private establishments and from all residences.
(IAC, 567-100.2)
4. “Landscape waste” means any vegetable or plant waste except garbage. The term includes trees, tree trimmings, branches, stumps, brush, weeds, leaves, grass, shrubbery and yard trimmings.
(IAC, 567-20.2[455B])
5. “Litter” means any garbage, rubbish, trash, refuse, waste materials or debris.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.361[1])
6. “Owner” means, in addition to the record titleholder, any person residing in, renting, leasing, occupying, operating or transacting business in any premises, and as between such parties the duties, responsibilities, liabilities and obligations hereinafter imposed shall be joint and several.
7. “Prairie” means a North American plant formation dominated by grasses with many forbs [non-grassy herbaceous plants (flowers)], few shrubs, and only occasional trees. In the tall grass prairie, including Iowa, the dominant grasses are big bluestem and Indiangrass along with prairie dropseed, switchgrass, and numerous other species. Forb species are mostly in the composite and legume families with many other plant families represented.
8. “Refuse” means putrescible and non-putrescible waste, including but not limited to garbage, rubbish, ashes, incinerator residues, street cleanings, market and industrial solid waste and sewage treatment waste in dry or semisolid form.
(IAC, 567-100.2)
9. "Resident" means an individual owning, renting, or leasing and occupying a residential property within Mount Vernon city limits.
10. “Rubbish” means non-putrescible solid waste consisting of combustible and non-combustible waste, such as ashes, paper, cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, wood, glass, bedding, crockery or litter of any kind.
(IAC, 567-100.2)
11. “Sanitary disposal” means a method of treating solid waste so that it does not produce a hazard to the public health or safety or create a nuisance.
(IAC, 567-100.2)
12. “Sanitary disposal project” means all facilities and appurtenances including all real and personal property connected with such facilities, which are acquired, purchased, constructed, reconstructed, equipped, improved, extended, maintained, or operated to facilitate the final disposition of solid waste without creating a significant hazard to the public health or safety, and which are approved by the Director.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.301)
13. “Solid waste” means garbage, refuse, rubbish, and other similar discarded solid or semisolid materials, including but not limited to such materials resulting from industrial, commercial, agricultural, and domestic activities. Solid waste may include vehicles, as defined by subsection one of Section 321.1 of the Code of Iowa.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.301)
It is the duty of each owner to provide for the sanitary disposal of all refuse accumulating on the owner’s premises before it becomes a nuisance. Any such accumulation remaining on any premises for a period of more than thirty (30) days shall be deemed a nuisance and the City may proceed to abate such nuisances in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 50 or by initiating proper action in district court. A violation of this section is an environmental violation and therefore a municipal infraction.
(Code of Iowa, Ch. 657)
No person shall allow, cause or permit open burning of combustible materials where the products of combustion are emitted into the open air without passing through a chimney or stack, except that open burning is permitted in the following circumstances:
(IAC, 567-23.2[455B] and 567-100.2)
1. Disaster Rubbish. The open burning of rubbish, including landscape waste, for the duration of the community disaster period in cases where an officially declared emergency condition exists.
(IAC, 567-23.2[3a])
2. Recreational Fires. Open fires for cooking, heating and recreation (e.g., small campfires). Larger ceremonial fires (e.g., school pep rally bonfires) require a permit with the signature of the Fire Chief. Such fires must not be used for the purpose of refuse or waste disposal. Persons starting such fires must exercise due diligence in attending them. Rubber tires shall not be burned in a recreational fire.
3. Training Fires. Fires set for the purpose of bona fide training of public employees and/or members of the volunteer fire department in fire fighting methods, provided that the Fire Chief has received a written request and has granted permission for such burning.
4. Prairie Burns. Sites that are dominated by native prairie species or have been planted to native prairie species. Weedy sites may be burned in which prairie species have been planted but are not yet dominant. Burning under this subsection may occur no more often than every three years. The Fire Chief and the fire crew shall possess proper experience and training in managing controlled burn ground fires. The Fire Chief or the Fire Chief's designee shall determine sites, dates and times for the burning to occur. In addition, all the following conditions must be met:
A. Full compliance with all state and county laws, regulations and rules;
B. Full compliance with City standards for prairie burns;
C. Issuance of a permit by the Fire Chief or the Fire Chief's designee; and
D. Burns conducted during a three month period between December 1 and March 1 only.
The Fire Chief shall develop City application forms, waiver forms and standards for prairie burns, subject to review and approval by Council. Any burning under this section shall be limited to areas at least one-quarter (1/4) mile from any building inhabited by anyone other than the applicant or any tenants of the applicant's property. This separation requirement may be waived by the owner of any building within one-quarter (1/4) mile of the proposed burn site by signing and submitting a written waiver. If any owner of any building within one-quarter (1/4) mile of the proposed burn site does not provide a written waiver, the application shall be denied. All required written waivers must be submitted with the application and are subject to confirmation by the Fire Chief or the Fire Chief's designee. If all necessary burn permits are approved and received, the applicant must post notice and notify by mail all affected property owners whose properties are within one-quarter (1/4) mile of the proposed burn site and all residents of the same properties a minimum of ten (10) days prior to the proposed burn. Any owner who burns prairie sites as permitted by this section shall be fully responsible for conducting the open burning safely and in accordance with applicable city, county and state standards at all times; shall be liable for any damages to persons or property that arise from the open burning; and shall hold the City harmless for any such damages.
5. Landscape Waste, Trees and Tree Trimmings. The disposal of landscape waste by open burning is generally prohibited because of public health and safety concerns and consequences. However, any property owner may apply for a permit to dispose of trees and tree trimmings originating on the premises by open burning. All the following conditions must be met:
A. Full compliance with all state and county laws, regulations and rules;
B. Full compliance with City standards for tree and tree trimming burns;
C. Issuance of a permit by the Fire Chief or the Fire Chief's designee; and
D. Burns conducted during a three month period between December 1 and March 1 only.
The Fire Chief shall develop City application forms, waiver forms and standards for the open burning of trees and tree trimmings, subject to review and approval by Council. Any burning under this section shall be limited to areas at least one-quarter (1/4) mile from any building inhabited by anyone other than the applicant or any tenants of the applicant's property. This separation requirement may be waived by the owner of any building within one-quarter (1/4) mile of the proposed burn site by signing and submitting a written waiver. If any owner of any building within one-quarter (1/4) mile of the proposed burn site does not provide a written waiver, the application shall be denied. All required written waivers must be submitted with the application and are subject to confirmation by the Fire Chief or the Fire Chief's designee. If all necessary burn permits are approved and received, the applicant must post notice and notify by mail all affected property owners whose properties are within one-quarter (1/4) mile of the proposed burn site and all residents of the same properties a minimum of ten (10) days prior to the proposed burn. Any owner who burns trees and tree trimmings as permitted by this section shall be fully responsible for conducting the open burning safely and in accordance with applicable city, county and state standards at all times; shall be liable for any damages to persons or property that arise from the open burning; and shall hold the City harmless for any such damages.
6. Fees. Permit fees for larger ceremonial burns, prairie burns and tree and tree trimming burns shall be set by resolution of the City Council.
No person shall discard any litter onto or in any water or land, except that nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the authorized collection and discarding of such litter in or on areas or receptacles provided for such purpose. When litter is discarded from a motor vehicle, the driver of the motor vehicle shall be responsible for the act in any case where doubt exists as to which occupant of the motor vehicle actually discarded the litter. A violation of this section is an environmental violation and therefore a municipal infraction.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.363)
No person shall dump or deposit or permit the dumping or depositing of any solid waste on the surface of the ground or into a body or stream of water at any place other than a sanitary disposal project approved by the Director, unless a special permit to dump or deposit solid waste on land owned or leased by such person has been obtained from the Director. However, this section does not prohibit the use of dirt, stone, brick or similar inorganic material for fill, landscaping, excavation, or grading at places other than a sanitary disposal project. A violation of this section is an environmental violation and therefore a municipal infraction.
(Code of Iowa, Sec. 455B.307 and IAC, 567-100.2)
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