Walton County, GA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Walton County Code § 46-33(a)(1) sets a general standard for the entire unincorporated county: no person may engage in solid waste handling in a manner that is conducive to insect and rodent infestation or the harboring and feeding of wild dogs or other animals. That standard applies to everyone presently or in the future engaged in solid waste handling, per § 46-33(b), covering both residential and commercial premises. The code pairs that standard with a more specific accumulation rule at § 46-35(f), which prohibits an owner or occupant from allowing solid waste to accumulate on a residential unit or commercial establishment where it creates or may create a health hazard to neighbors, is unsightly, or emits foul or obnoxious odors amounting to a public or private nuisance, and it expressly labels that conduct a violation of the article.

Together, these sections give the county a hook to act on the classic rodent-attractant scenario: uncollected garbage, open containers or trash piled on a property. The provisions sit in Chapter 46, Solid Waste, adopted by ordinance on February 21, 1998, and amended October 2, 2001; the chapter's exemptions for self-haulers and state-permitted collectors under § 46-34 do not exempt anyone from the infestation and health-hazard standards themselves.