Montgomery County, VA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

1-66, in Article V of the Solid Waste chapter, is Montgomery County's core illegal-dumping prohibition: it bars disposing of or discarding waste anywhere except a facility specifically permitted by the Virginia Department of Waste Management or operated by, for, or under contract with the county as a depository or disposal site. The section carves out two exceptions: automobiles left in licensed automobile graveyards, and land-clearing operations that burn brush and stumps, so long as the burning follows state law and the local fire department is notified first; stumps still may not be buried.

1-67, backs enforcement with an evidentiary presumption: garbage or trash found on another person's property, or on public property outside a permitted facility, that bears a person's printed or written name or address is presumed in court to belong to that person and to have been placed or left there by them, though the presumption can be rebutted with competent evidence. 2-11 provides, and each day the dumping continues on the property is treated as a separate offense. 1-68 to inspect how waste is being handled, and the board of supervisors can also go to circuit court to seek an injunction or other order restraining a violation under § 1-6.

This rule reaches the unincorporated area, including Riner, Shawsville, Elliston, Prices Fork and Plum Creek, since Blacksburg and Christiansburg run their own solid waste codes inside town limits.