Concord, NC Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 46-71(a), titled 'Container requirements and specifications,' opens Chapter 46's cart-ownership article with a broad dumping prohibition: it is unlawful for any person to permit garbage or refuse to accumulate or remain on any premises longer than is reasonably necessary to place it in an approved cart or container, and it is separately unlawful for any person to throw, place or deposit any garbage or refuse of any kind on any public or private property. That second clause is Concord's core illegal-dumping ban, covering both public land and someone else's private property.

Two related prohibitions elsewhere in Chapter 46 extend the same principle: Section 46-34(c) makes it illegal to remove waste material from the property where it originated and place it at curbside elsewhere to await collection, and Section 46-34(d) separately bans transporting solid waste into the city for the city's crews and trucks to collect. Enforcement for all of these runs through Section 46-2: a violation is a declared public nuisance, code enforcement gives written notice (posted, hand-delivered or mailed by both first-class and certified mail), and the responsible party has 48 hours to correct it before facing a civil penalty from the city's adopted fee schedule, plus a delinquency charge if that penalty goes unpaid after 30 days.

If the owner or occupant does not comply, the city can remove the material itself and bill the cost as a lien on the property, collected the same way as unpaid property taxes.