Franklin County, NC Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Franklin County Code § 24-117(a) makes it unlawful for any person to sweep, throw, deposit, or dump litter or solid waste onto public or private property, or to permit, allow, maintain, or contribute to that dumping, unless the area is designed to accept it. The same section reaches property owners, occupants, tenants, and lessees who permit litter or illegally dumped material to accumulate on land they control, and it holds construction and manufacturing site owners, businesses, and prime contractors jointly and severally responsible for controlling litter their work generates.

Section 24-120 narrows lawful disposal to three channels: placing approved waste in a county or private hauler container, taking acceptable waste to the transfer station or another permitted landfill or transfer facility, or incinerating it at a facility meeting local, state, and federal air standards; disposing of solid waste by illegal dumping, burying, or burning outside those channels is expressly prohibited. Penalties run through § 24-5: any violation of Chapter 24 is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500.00 under G.S. 14-4, with each day of continued violation a separate offense, and the county can additionally pursue an administrative penalty of $50.00 per offense for a residential violation, including backyard dumping, or $75.00 for an out-of-county offender.

If the fine isn't paid or settled within the notice period, the solid waste manager can still require the offender to remove the dumped material within five days, adding a further $50.00-per-day penalty until it is cleared.