(A) No person shall place any refuse in any street, alley or other public place, except it be in proper containers for collection under express approval granted by the Sanitation Superintendent.
(B) No person shall cast, place, sweep or deposit anywhere within the city any refuse, in such a manner that it may be carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk, alley, sewer, parkway or other public place, or into any occupied premises within the city. No person shall pick through the garbage or refuse containers of another.
(C) No person shall throw or deposit any refuse in any stream or other body of water. Any unauthorized accumulation of refuse on any premises is declared to be a nuisance and is prohibited.
(D) REFUSE is what is commonly known as trash, litter, and unwanted material, and includes but is not limited to solid and semisolid wastes, dead animals, animal waste, tires, appliances, electronics, handbill advertisements, solicitation materials, and offal.
(E) Upon a conviction for violating divisions (A) through (C) above, the fines for violating this section shall be determined as follows, instead of following § 50.99:
(1) A fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500 per occurrence shall be imposed for each infraction committed under this section that involves less than three cubic feet of litter or waste;
(2) A fine of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000 per occurrence shall be imposed for each Infraction committed under this section that involves between three cubic feet and up to ten cubic feet of litter or waste;
(3) A fine of not less than $300 and not more than $2,000 per occurrence shall be imposed for each infraction committed under this section that involves in excess of ten cubic feet of litter or waste;
(4) Fines are doubled under any of the following circumstances:
(a) When the refuse involved includes drugs or drug paraphernalia (including but not limited to hypodermic needles and/or syringes), lit cigarettes or other lighted/flaming material, and/or obscene or pornographic material; or
(b) When the refuse involved is within 25 feet of a running or permanent natural body of water or storm drains such that the refuse will more likely than not enter said body of water or storm drain, regardless of whether the refuse does actually do so; or
(c) The refuse includes any material which is recognized as a toxin by the USDA and/or EPA; or
(d) The person cited for violation of this section has previously been cited for violation of this section within the previous 12 months.
(F) The enforcement of this section shall not interfere with any state code, administrative code, or regulation where oversight is provided by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, or any other applicable governmental and regulatory body.
(Ord. G-60-84, passed 5-2-1960; Ord. G-17-10, passed 8-7-2017)
Statutory reference:
Littering, see I.C. 35-45-3-2