Lancaster Municipal Code Ch. 8.20 Littering

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Lancaster Anti-Litter Law."

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

"Aircraft" means any contrivance now known or hereinafter invented, used, or designed for navigation or for flight in the air. "Aircraft" shall include helicopters and lighter-than-air dirigibles and balloons. "Authorized private receptacle" means a litter storage and collection receptacle as required and authorized by Section 13.16.060 of the Lancaster Municipal Code.

"Garbage" means putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, and consumption of food.

"Litter" means garbage, refuse, and rubbish as defined in this section and all other waste material which, if thrown or deposited as set forth in this chapter, tends to create a danger to the public health, safety and welfare.

"Park" means a park, reservation, playground, recreation center, or any other public area in the city owned or used by the city and devoted to active or passive recreation.

"Person" means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, or organization of any kind.

"Private premises" means any dwelling, house, building, or other structure designed or used, either wholly or in part, for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant. "Private premises" includes any yard, grounds, walk, driveway, porch, steps, vestibule, or mailbox belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling, house, building, or other structure.

"Public place" means any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys, or other public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds, and buildings.

"Refuse" means all putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes except body wastes, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleaning, dead animals, abandoned automobiles, and solid market and industrial wastes.

"Rubbish" means nonputrescible solid wastes consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes such as paper, wrappings, cigarettes, cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, leaves, wood, glass, bedding, crockery, and similar materials.

"Vehicle" means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is, or may be, transported or drawn upon a highway, including devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person shall throw or deposit litter on any occupied private property within the city, whether owned by such person or not, except that the owner or person in control of private property may maintain authorized private receptacles for collection in such a manner that litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk or other public place or upon any private property.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person shall throw or deposit litter in or upon any street, sidewalk or other public place within the city except in public receptacles or in authorized private receptacles for collection, or in official disposal sites. No person shall deposit or cause to be deposited in any city-owned receptacle located in a public place the garbage or litter which was accumulated in the residence or place of business occupied by that person.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

Persons placing litter in public receptacles or in authorized private receptacles shall do so in such a manner as to prevent it from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk or other public place or upon private property.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

Receptacles or waste containers and trash cans, shall be stored behind the front yard setback area of a residential dwelling, and shall be obscured from public view by approved fencing, vegetation, topography, or any combination thereof; except for the time allowed to place receptacle(s) at the curb for collection by a refuse hauler, as provided in Section 13.16.040 of this code.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person owning or occupying a place of business shall sweep into or deposit into any gutter, street or other public place within the city the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons owning or occupying places of business within the city shall keep the sidewalk in front of their premises free of litter.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person shall sweep into or deposit into a gutter, or other public place within the city the accumulation of litter, including leaves and similar refuse, from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons owning or occupying property shall keep the sidewalk in front of their premises free of litter, including leaves and similar refuse.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

(Ord. No. 912, § 1, 11-12-08)

No person shall throw or deposit litter on any open or vacant private property within the city whether owned by such person or not.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person, while a driver or passenger in a vehicle, shall throw or deposit litter upon any street or other public place within the city, or upon private property.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person shall drive or move any truck or other vehicle within the city unless such vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent any load, contents or litter from being blown or deposited upon any street, alley or other public place. Nor shall any person drive or move any vehicle or truck within the city, the wheels or tires of which carry onto or deposit in any street, alley or other public place, mud, dirt, sticky substances, litter or foreign matter of any kind.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person shall throw or deposit litter in any park within the city except in public receptacles and in such manner that the litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any part of the park or upon any street or other public place.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

No person in an aircraft shall throw out, drop, or deposit within the city any litter, handbill or any other object.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

The city manager and his or her designee, all deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and code enforcement officers of the city are empowered to enforce the provisions of this chapter and to issue citations or make arrests for violation thereof.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

Every person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter is guilty of an infraction and upon conviction is punishable as provided in Chapter 1.12 of the Lancaster Municipal Code or as otherwise provided in California Penal Code Section 374.4.

Violations of any of the provisions of this chapter may, in the alternative, be punished by the issuance of an administrative citation, the penalty amount of which shall be assessed at a rate as set forth in the fee schedule in Section 1.12.020 of Chapter 1.12 of this code.

As an alternative to paying the amount of the administrative citation, a cited person may elect to enroll in and perform community service, as set forth in Section 1.16.095 of Chapter 1.16 of this code. A cited person who has been granted an indigency waiver pursuant to Section 1.16.085 of Chapter 1.16 of this code shall enroll in and perform community service as an alternative to paying the amount of the administrative citation.

(Ord. No. 1097, § 4(Exh. C), 1-10-2023; Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)

If any part or provision of this chapter is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of law, such invalidity shall not affect any other part or provision herein, and all remaining provisions of this chapter will be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

(Ord. 858 Att. A (part), 2006)