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

Sec. 3-1-06(b) of the General Solid Waste Management Ordinance bars any person from littering, sweeping, throwing, depositing, or dumping solid waste onto public or private property not designated to receive it, and bars any owner, occupant, tenant, or lessee from permitting litter or illegally dumped material to accumulate on their building, structure, or land; property owners and contractors on a construction site are jointly and severally responsible for controlling construction-related litter. Sec. 3-1-09 separately prohibits accumulating litter, trash, rubbish or other waste on owned or occupied property, openly accumulating noxious or dangerous liquid materials outside sealed residential-maintenance quantities, and leaving construction/demolition debris unremoved, which the ordinance treats as creating an unlawful nuisance condition; it also bars fouling a waterway or shoreline with solid waste or washing waste into a drainage ditch or stormwater feature.

Enforcement runs through the Board of Commissioners with the Emergency Services Director and Health Director, with the Sheriff's Office handling law enforcement (Sec. 3-1-13); a vehicle operator is presumed responsible when waste is released from a vehicle, and identifiable waste is prima facie evidence the identified person dumped it (Sec. 3-1-13.B-C). Under Sec. 3-1-14, a violator may be charged criminally under N.C.G.S. §14-4 (up to $500 and 30 days imprisonment, each day a separate offense) and separately assessed an administrative penalty of $100 for littering, $100 for a residential violation, or $500 for a commercial or industrial violation, doubling each subsequent offense within the same calendar year. Abatement costs may be filed as a lien against the property and collected like ad valorem taxes (Sec. 3-1-14.F).