Novi, MI Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Novi City Code Sec. 33-739.5 bars depositing, placing, dumping, throwing or leaving, or causing or permitting anyone else to deposit, place, dump, throw or leave, any destructive or injurious material on a street without the consent of the public authority supervising it. The list of covered material is broad: rubbish, refuse, waste material, garbage, offal, paper, glass, cans, bottles, trash, mud, dirt, clay or debris all count. The section does not stop at intentional dumping; anyone who throws or drops any of that listed material on a street, even accidentally, has to remove it or arrange for its removal right away.

The section itself labels the violation a misdemeanor, and because it does not designate the offense as a municipal civil infraction, it falls under the Code's default misdemeanor penalty in Sec. 1-11: a conviction can carry a jail sentence of up to 90 days and a fine of up to $500, and each day a violation continues is treated as a separate offense. This street-dumping ban sits alongside the city's construction-debris division, which separately bars dumping litter, garbage, debris or waste material at construction sites or depositing dust, sand, mud, dirt or debris on any street from a job site, but Sec. 33-739.5 applies to any person dumping on a Novi street, not just contractors and builders.