Bristol, PA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 20-116 of the Bristol Borough Code applies to any person, firm or corporation. No one can keep or suffer to remain upon the premises, or on any private property, any garbage, offal, carcass, putrid matter or other refuse or trash. No one can cast the same upon the shore or margin of any body or stream of water, upon any dock or wharf, into any sewer inlet, or upon any sidewalk. Because the Borough sits on the Delaware River, the water, dock and wharf language reaches the riverfront.

The section carries two carve-outs. It does not apply to the storage of building material pending usage upon the property, or to garbage, ashes and rubbish stored as required while awaiting collection, provided that all applicable provisions of all other ordinances of the Borough are adhered to in the storage and placement. The waiting-for-collection exception connects to § 20-106, which requires watertight vessels or receptacles, and to § 20-110, which limits curb placement to after 6:00 p.m. the evening before collection.

Related prohibitions sit in Part 3. Section 20-303 makes it unlawful to store, collect or transport municipal waste in a manner not in accordance with Part 3 and other applicable regulations, and unlawful to scavenge any material from municipal waste or source-separated recyclable materials stored or placed for collection without prior approval from the municipality. Collectors and haulers who violate Part 3 can be reported to PADEP by the Borough under § 20-307.

The Borough also holds an injunction option: under § 20-308 it can petition the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas for an injunction, mandatory or prohibitive, to enforce Part 3.