Chicopee, MA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Chapter 169 of the Chicopee Code covers garbage, rubbish and refuse, and § 169-8 is the direct dumping rule: the dumping of rubbish or trash on City property is forbidden, and violators are liable to a penalty of $150 for each offense. The penalty is stated per offense, so each separate act of dumping is its own violation.

The rest of the chapter closes the other routes. Section 169-5(A) says no person shall dump, throw or place any garbage, paper, ashes or rubbish on any public or private property within the City, whether owned by that person or not, unless it sits in a standard legal container for collection or is expressly approved by the Board of Health and the City Council. Section 169-6 bars throwing or depositing refuse in any stream or other body of water. Section 169-7 requires a permit from the City Council, certified by the Board of Health, before anyone brings rubbish, trash, demolition by-products, garbage or other waste into Chicopee from a location outside the City.

Landowners carry their own duty. Under § 169-9(A), the owner of any parcel, vacant or otherwise, must keep it clean and sanitary and free from garbage, rubbish or other refuse. Construction, remodeling and demolition debris is outside City sanitation service under § 169-4(E). A temporary dumpster on a residential property is allowed for a total of eight weeks, only for household demolition or construction debris, and only after the owner secures Health Department approval; on City property the Department of Public Works issues the permit (§ 169-5(D)(3)). Fill permits for demolition debris are a separate track under § 169-16: the Board of Health can grant one after a public hearing and a two-thirds vote of all City Council members, for no more than 30 days at a time.

Enforcement is shared. Section 169-15 gives the Superintendent of Public Works, the Chicopee Police Department, the Building Department, the Health Department and their designees authority to issue citations under Chapter 169.