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

Section 38-32(a) of the Granville County Code bars any person, firm, organization, private corporation or governing body from scattering, spilling, placing, dumping, depositing, dropping, throwing, discarding or leaving litter on any public or private property in the county not owned by them, unless the property is a designated public landfill site operating under current dumping rules, or the litter goes into a private or county-designated receptacle intended for that purpose. The same subsection makes it a violation to dump litter around a receptacle or on top of a full one so litter falls outside it.

Subsection (b) separately bans throwing litter from a motor vehicle or boat onto a public highway or into any river, lake, pond, stream or body of water in the county, and subsection (c) bans leaving glass, nails, tacks, brickbats or similar hazards on any county road. Section 38-33 requires owners and operators of businesses, restaurants, shopping centers, hotels, apartment buildings and similar premises held out to the public to keep those premises clean of litter and to place sufficient, clearly identified receptacles. Section 38-36 sets the penalty schedule: a fine of not more than $100.00 for a first littering conviction and not more than $500.00 for any second or subsequent offense.

These provisions derive from an ordinance of August 18, 1986, amended May 6, 2019, and are adopted under the county's state-law authority to regulate removal and disposal of litter, G.S. 153A-132.1.