Ridgefield, CT Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 305-1, adopted from the 1974 Code and carried into the current Solid Waste chapter, provides that there shall be no dumping of any filthy, obnoxious or unsanitary material or refuse upon any public street or public property other than a place the Board of Selectmen has designated for that purpose. Section 305-2, amended in 1980, adds four specific bans: placing or depositing filth or an offensively smelling substance in or upon a street or sidewalk so as to make it unclean or offensive; placing or depositing ashes, dirt, stone, brick or other substances on a stone, macadam or cement road; dressing or cleaning fish, birds, poultry or any animal on a street or sidewalk; and placing or leaving any animal or vegetable substance liable to putrefy on a sidewalk or highway.

Neither section sets its own fine, and Article I of Chapter 305 has no dedicated penalty clause of its own (the chapter's later Article II penalty section, § 305-27, applies only to recycling-separation and collector violations). Because Town Code § 1-2 supplies a general penalty whenever the Code prohibits an act without stating a specific fine, that catch-all governs illegal dumping under §§ 305-1 and 305-2. § 22a-241b(c) draws a flat $500 fine under § 305-27(C).