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

City Code § 11-17(a) makes it unlawful to place, discard, throw, drop or deposit any solid wastes, including hazardous waste, on any public street, sidewalk or alley within the city or on city-owned or other public property except in properly designated receptacles, on any property not owned by the person without the written consent of the owner, occupant or lessee, or into any stream or body of water. Section 11-17(b) assigns responsibility to the vehicle's driver when litter is thrown from a vehicle, regardless of who actually threw it.

A narrow exception in § 11-17(c) permits dumping or filling with the owner's permission using clean sand, dirt, broken brick, blocks, concrete, broken pavement and natural land debris that is uncontaminated and won't create a nuisance or health hazard, with the city manager's consent standing in for permission on city property. A related provision, § 11-18, separately bans bringing trash into Gastonia from outside the city to dispose of it through city pickup, and bans knowingly letting someone else use your receptacles or property for that purpose.